The New King of Speed: SR-72

As cool as bombs are, speed is pretty damn cool, too! All you need to do is hear this story and it'll fill you with the neeeeeed for speed! The SR-71 was the king of speed for the better part of almost a half century and remained unchallenged as far as speed and operational ceiling went. It could outrun you, or it could out climb you. In the game of reconnaissance planes, nobody even came close the SR-71. The phantom-looking jet could reach speeds in excess of Mach 3 (2200 mph). Although the jets went out of service in 1998, nobody has been able to replicate the sheer speed that the Blackbird was capable of. That is of course until Lockheed Martin decided to build the SR-72 in 2013.

The "new" king of speed is looking to upset his predecessor by reaching speeds in excess of Mach 6 (4300 mph), however, there is one small drawback: It will be unmanned. Air Force pilots everywhere who want to be the fastest will still have to bow down to the generation of SR-71 pilots before them.*No it doesn't count if you fly the SR-72 from a recliner at any of the Joint Bases. You're not in the bird, you didn't go that fast, end of story. It's still a cool plane though.Developed through the famous Skunk Works at Lockheed Martin the jet will not only be for recon missions, they are trying to build in the ability to perform strike missions! We thought the only bad thing about these kings of speed was that they couldn't drop ordinance. Talk about a game changer! We've said it once, and we'll say it again. "America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed!" Eleanor Roosevelt.

This new iteration of a hypersonic jet will be able to reach anywhere in the world, in an hour. We can barely get pizza delivered from 10 miles down the road in less than 30 minutes and the Air Force is going to have the ability to put warheads on foreheads anywhere in the world in an hour. Pick up your game pizza parlors!

As of now, there is no confirmed date or time for the newest fastest plane to hit the skies, but many people are speculating about an early 2020's debut of the SR-72. While it may seem like a long time, an eight year (give or take) turn around on such a potent weapon isn't that bad considering how long research and development, production, testing and all that other jazz takes. We look forward to hearing more about the new king of speed as the program progresses.