I understand the SR-71 had to deal with a lot of issues in order to keep its speed (special fuel which leaked on the runway, titanium fuselage and probably other stuff). But wouldn’t the same type of engine be able to power a relatively slower fighter jet capable of easily cruise at match 2-2.5, so it doesn’t have to deal with so much friction as the SR-71 at match 3.
But while the engines exist since the 1960s, relatively few fighters go faster than match 2 and it took all the way to the 21st century to have fighters capable of supercruise (and still below match 2). So I guess there has to be a reason for that.
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Basically there is no demand for such aircraft. It’s still too expensive to use as fighter or bomber and for reconnaissance drones and satellites are good enough. Also all modern anti aircraft solutions are designed to kill fast moving jet planes while primitive slow drones (like those Ukrainians used to blow up a refinery in Russia) are extremely hard to hit due to tiny radar and heat signatures.
Only reasonable way to practically utilize hypersonic engines would be to “skim” the boundary of our atmosphere to reduce drag (plane would fly almost in vacuum) and increase range this way. But you’d need a scramjet for that. Such engines are in development and testing but so far (at least publicly) those are only considered for missiles.
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