Very cool - SR-72

I am a big fan of the SR-71 Blackbird. That plane is so perfectly engineered that it is iconic. A while ago, I saw a video about its making and the engineers were asked if they would change anything from when it was first designed 30 years previous, they said that they would change nothing. Say hello to the SR-72 -- from Aviation Week:

Exclusive: Skunk Works Reveals SR-71 Successor Plan
Ever since Lockheed�s unsurpassed SR-71 Blackbird was retired from U.S. Air Force service almost two decades ago, the perennial question has been: Will it ever be succeeded by a new-generation, higher-speed aircraft and, if so, when?

That is, until now. After years of silence on the subject, Lockheed Martin�s Skunk Works has revealed exclusively to AW&ST details of long-running plans for what it describes as an affordable hypersonic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike platform that could enter development in demonstrator form as soon as 2018. Dubbed the SR-72, the twin-engine aircraft is designed for a Mach 6 cruise, around twice the speed of its forebear, and will have the optional capability to strike targets.

Very cool - of course, these are just the published specs...