SR-71 Vs SR-72 Darkstar: A Look At The Design Hurdles For The Son Of Blackbird

One good SR-72 Darkstar AKA “SOB” (as in “Son of Blackbird,” i.e. the SR-71 Blackbird, not the profane kind of “Son of…”) deserves a timely follow-up. As I noted in my previous Simple Flying article on this still-hypothetical (at least officially) futuristic warbird, it not only captured the imagination of the Western moviegoing public but concurrently freaked out the top brass of Red China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) via its fictitiously embellished appearance in the 2022 box office blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick.”