SR-71 Blackbird, favorite plane of Elon Musk and Grimes, is there anything special?

Tram Ho

Elon Musk and his girlfriend, singer Grimes, have just had their first child together. Although the boy’s name, X Æ A-12, confused many people, especially about the pronunciation, Grimes quickly revealed why the couple came up with that unique name.

Specifically, in a tweet, Grimes made clear the meaning behind each letter in his son’s name, and said that “A-12” refers to Lockheed A-12, a spy plane used. by the CIA in the 1960s.

The A-12 is a precursor to the much more famous SR-71 Blackbird, which is also a favorite plane for both Musk and Grimes. Blackbird was widely known during the Cold War, and was used primarily for aerial surveillance purposes because it had no offensive or defensive weapons.

Blackbird can be considered a military version of Concorde, when its two rocket-like engines could provide thrust to help the aircraft move at supersonic speeds on areas of extreme height. “most in Earth’s atmosphere.

Before the introduction of satellite cameras, the United States used drones to take spy pictures. One of the first aircraft developed for this purpose was the U-2 Dragon Lady, with the ability to fly 21.3km high. The plane did a good job, but had a problem: it could be shot down – the example being Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 shot down in 1960 in the skies of Russia. US President Dwight Eisenhower, recognizing this mistake, ordered a new spy plane with the ability to avoid enemy missiles.

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U-2 Dragon Lady

That’s when the SR-71 Blackbird came along, a supersonic spy plane focused on speed and stealth.

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SR-71 Blackbird

Lockheed, the defense aerospace manufacturer, was chosen to develop the aircraft through Skunk Works, the codename for the company’s Advanced Development division. Project leader is pioneer restaurant Clarence “Kelly” Johnson.

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SR-71 Blackbird

Lockheed launched its first product, the A-12 Oxcart, a single-seat spy plane that has performed missions in Vietnam and North Korea. Despite its success, the US was increasingly afraid that Soviet technology was gradually catching up to them and could render the aircraft useless. In the picture below, you can see a model of A-12 Oxcart outside CIA’s Langley headquarters – the agency that ordered the aircraft.

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A-12 Oxcart

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A-12 Oxcart on display at CIA headquarters in Langley

From the A-12, the two-seat SR-71 Blackbird was built for the US Air Force. Compared to its predecessor, the Blackbird has a better surface for radar reflection and is therefore harder to detect by enemy air defenses.

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SR-71 Blackbird

Of the two drivers of Blackbird, only the pilot was sitting in the front, while scouts and pilots would sit in the back. Both will wear uniforms that look like astronaut costumes, because this aircraft operates at a fairly high altitude.

This is Blackbird’s cockpit:

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The aircraft is powered by two Pratt & Whitney J58 engines, which look more like two rockets than the aircraft engine. They allow the Blackbird to fly at high altitudes at supersonic speeds.

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Blackbird can reach speeds of more than 3,218 km / h, or about 3 times the speed of sound, at an altitude of more than 24.4 km. When in danger, pilots can activate the “afterburner” (afterburner) to evade all threats, including rockets.

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At great speeds and heights, Blackbird can fly across continents in a matter of hours. Visual pilots cannot observe land features, such as roads, but instead watch mountains and coastlines.

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When fuel is running low, a supply aircraft will fly in and fly fuel in the air, allowing Blackbird to be able to continue operating for long periods. Blackbird usually takes off with minimal fuel, then will be fueled once in the air before heading to the task area.

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The material that made the fuselage is titanium, because with the temperature and altitude it operates, the amount of heat generated certainly reaches a very high level, up to thousands of degrees.

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The first Blackbird took off in 1964 and began serving the US Air Force for nearly 30 years since 1966, before retiring in 1990. The reason for retirement was because of the expensive aircraft-related costs. , improvements in satellite technology, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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The Blackbird is one of the most secretive aircraft in the Air Force, because it operates at more than twice the altitude of most other aircraft. The power of Blackbird, undeniable, is extremely important to the US intelligence community.

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Like most other supersonic aircraft, Blackbird possesses technology ahead of its time. No aircraft model has replaced its location yet.

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Grimes wrote in her tweet that she and Musk were both Blackbird fans because it was unarmed. This is a “gentle” plane.

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Blackbird’s only weapon is its camera system, which brings in invaluable intelligence to the military and underground intelligence agencies.

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NASA also used Blackbird for testing purposes from the retirement of the Air Force, until 1997, making it one of the longest-serving spy aircraft in the US military.

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Musk is a person very interested in aviation and space. His SpaceX company aims to develop new rocket models to send mankind into space. Therefore, it is not surprising that this odd businessman put a revolutionary aircraft like Blackbird in his favorite list.

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Reference: BusinessInsider

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