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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I also read a thing recently that said the reason they had to refuel after take off, wasn’t because they leaked a ton on the runway, but because they needed a special air mix to fill the tanks when fuel was depleted, as regular air could not do it for some reason.
I dunno sounds like it could be true.
Nothing needs to go that fast anymore
The SR71 worked really hard to do ~2000 mph to go spy on specific stuff for a couple minutes.
But it turns out to be way easier to get a bunch of spy satellites to orbit the Earth at ~17,200 mph and spy on everything, all the time, for years and years at a time, without refueling or risking the life of an airman.
“Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?”
those engines were most useful at a steady speed. modern warfare where anything moving in the sky is trackable as a bicyclist on a desert lake bed with a road flare, its all about electronics and maneuverability.
these days they can make a jet fly and turn faster than the pilot (high G blackouts)
the main reason to have high speed is just to get the weapon from launch point to near the engagement point. the electronics see the targets well before the pilot can, well before the missles are in range. the weapons systems are getting info from satelites, other jets, ships, AWACs and ground radar.
Lol, have you seen an SR-71? One engine is like the size of an F-16.
The big thing abput the blackbird often not talked about, is that at high speeds the friction with air, the plane would expand. Meaning yeah the engines are fast, but the speed comes at a cost, reason why modern planes fly slower because its more fuel efficient to do so. There are stories of the jetfule just leaking everywhere from the blackbird, as it needed the hogh speed to expand the body due to heat and close up the gaps, so ot really was just a hotrod of the sky, purpose built to go super fast at any cost.
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