Darkstar, the secretive, ultrafast jet supposedly being developed for the U.S. military, may have gotten another shred of confirmation that it actually exists.
Aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin recently tweeted about the famed SR-71 Blackbird “being the fastest acknowledged crewed air-breathing jet aircraft.” (Italic emphasis our own.) As first noted by The War Zone, the tweet could be a subtle reference to the SR-72, the long-rumored hypersonic successor to the Blackbird.
The Lockheed tweet was in celebration of Tom Cruise’s movie Top Gun: Maverick, the second highest-grossing film of 2022, which picked up six Academy Awards nominations, including for Best Picture, Film Editing and Visual Effects. At Sunday’s ceremony, the film’s sound crew won the Oscar for Best Sound.
The Need for Speed
Maverick famously featured an SR-72 “Darkstar.” While no such jet is known to exist, there have been hints that a follow-up aircraft to the SR-71 might be flying—or at least in the planning stages.
The jet in the movie, called the SR-72, looks like a Skunk Works concept art for a real uncrewed SR-72. The hypersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft, first announced in 2016, had a long blended wing, fuselage, and tiny wings. The Skunk Works logo can be seen on the tail fin. Former Lockheed CEO Marilyn Hewson once described the plane as a Mach 6-capable jet.
Maverick’s SR-72 shares many similarities with a rendering that Lockheed Martin released on its website, including the Skunk Works logo on the tail. One part of the plane that looks different is the pilot’s cockpit window on the left and right of the Darkstar, while the real-world concept plane is said to be uncrewed and would not need a window.
Hypersonics That Go Boom
Whether or not the SR-72 actually exists, the interest in hypersonic aircraft is genuine. The European company Destinus is trying to build a hybrid hypersonic plane. The airplane combines hydrogen-fueled air-breathing turbojet engines for takeoff, landing, and flights at subsonic and supersonic speeds along with a rocket engine that will boost the aircraft to hypersonic speeds.
Hypersonic missiles are also getting a lot of attention, with Russia recently using its Kinzhal weapons to hit command centers in Ukraine. The highly maneuverable air-launched missile flies at Mach 5 in order to evade defenses.
Meanwhile, China is reportedly deploying hypersonic missiles that could strike U.S. bases in the Pacific if the two countries ever went to war over an invasion of Taiwan. The Defense Intelligence Agency’s head of science and technology said recently that China had made significant advancements in developing conventional and nuclear-armed hypersonic missile technology.
Sascha Brodsky, a freelance journalist based in New York City and a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, writes about many aspects of technology including personal technology, AI, and virtual reality. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and many other publications. In his spare time, he enjoys cycling and hiking.
