tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au (06/05/90)
From: tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au I was wondering if someone could tell me what SR stands for (as in SR-71. ) Also , if the SR-71 has been put out of service, what aircraft is replacing it. The F-117? I don't think so. Does this mean the U.S. has a new Secret Spy plane, or do they feel it is unnesecary to have one.(I don't think so). Please answer. Scott Marshall.
sxdjt@acad3.fai.alaska.edu (06/05/90)
From: sxdjt@acad3.fai.alaska.edu In article <1990May29.145207.21418@cbnews.att.com>, tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au writes... > > >From: tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au >I was wondering if someone could tell me what SR stands for >(as in SR-71. ) It stands for Strategic Recon... > Also , if the SR-71 has been put out of service, what >aircraft is replacing it. The F-117? I don't think so. Does >this mean the U.S. has a new Secret Spy plane, or do they feel >it is unnesecary to have one.(I don't think so). I should think that they have something, but I really doubt that it would be something like the F-117 (too short of a range, not enough room for sensor pallates, etc). Back a long, long time ago, the U-2 used to be a hyper secret piece of equipment. Suddenly, the government was not as sensetive about them, and this is about the time that the SR-71 came on line... Makes ya wonder what they have flying now...
jabusch@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (John Jabusch) (06/05/90)
From: jabusch@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu (John Jabusch) In article <1990May29.145207.21418@cbnews.att.com> tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au writes: > >From: tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au >I was wondering if someone could tell me what SR stands for >(as in SR-71. ) >Scott Marshall. SR-71 ^^ ^ || |_ Serialized model number || ||___ Aircraft type designation (Recon) | |____ Modifier to basic type (Surveillance) I have, somewhere, a reference for the system which this comes from. I'll have to look it up, and perhaps post it, if there is sufficient interest. -- John W. Jabusch INTERNET: jabusch@cerl.cecer.army.mil MILNET: jabusch@osiris.arpa US Mail: USA CERL, PO Box 4005 Newmark Drive, Champaign, Il 61824-4005 Voice/Phone: Commercial (217) 352-6511
brookste@ingr.com (Tracy E. Brooks) (06/05/90)
From: brookste@ingr.com (Tracy E. Brooks) In article <1990May29.145207.21418@cbnews.att.com>, tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au writes: > > > From: tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au > I was wondering if someone could tell me what SR stands for > (as in SR-71. ) > Also , if the SR-71 has been put out of service, what > aircraft is replacing it. The F-117? I don't think so. Does > this mean the U.S. has a new Secret Spy plane, or do they feel > it is unnesecary to have one.(I don't think so). > Please answer. > Scott Marshall. The SR stands for strike/recon. Originally, it was supposed to be RS (recon/strike), but when LBJ announced it as the SR-71A in 1964, no one bothered to correct him. "Officially", the US does not plan to replace the SR-71. Among the reasons are: that it is very expensive to maintain and modern spy satellites can do the job. The US still has a long-range, high altitude recon bird in the TR-1. It is similar to the U-2, but more advanced. The US also has various fighter planes that are equiped for reconnaissance. Tracy E. Brooks Senior Field Support Engineer Intergraph Corporation Knoxville, Tenneessee ingr!b10!cis5!brookste
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (06/05/90)
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au >I was wondering if someone could tell me what SR stands for >(as in SR-71. ) Originally, it was RS, standing for Reconnaissance and Strike, with Strike meaning nuclear. Yes, the RS-71 could carry a bomb, although this ability has never been used. One of the attempts to save the B-70 program renamed it RS-70, more or less as a public-relations trick although there were some changes in equipment and mission, and so the USAF version of its highly-secret smaller counterpart naturally got RS-71. LBJ botched the designation when he announced the project, though, and this was fixed up retroactively by deciding that SR stood for Strategic Reconnaissance. (Would *you* want to argue with LBJ?) > Also , if the SR-71 has been put out of service, what >aircraft is replacing it. The F-117? I don't think so. Does >this mean the U.S. has a new Secret Spy plane, or do they feel >it is unnesecary to have one... The true answer to this is almost certainly classified. The official answer is that satellites have made the SR-71 unnecessary. A pragmatic answer is that the USAF had to pay for the SR-71 but made very little use of the data -- the customers were elsewhere in Washington -- and it got tired of this eventually. (Attempts to get the SR-71s transferred to the joint-intelligence budget that pays for things like the satellites didn't succeed.) A cynical answer is that USAF reconnaissance planning is in near-total disarray and so nobody was able to cite a specific, documented need for the SR-71 when USAF bean-counters came hunting for weak spots. Also, there are a number of reports which suggest the existence of a new hypersonic spyplane, perhaps unmanned. If it exists, it is very highly secret. The F-117 is definitely not an SR-71 replacement. Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu
dant%mrloog.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET (Dan Tilque) (06/05/90)
From: Dan Tilque <dant%mrloog.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET> tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au writes: > >I was wondering if someone could tell me what SR stands for >(as in SR-71. ) Here's a story I heard from a former U-2 pilot: Originally, the SR-71 was known as the RS-71, with the RS standing for Reconnaissance-Surveillance. At this point only a relatively few people knew of the plane's existence. Then, about 1964, President Johnson gives a speech and refers to the plane as the SR-71. So the Air Force, having caught terminal brownnose-itis, goes through all its documents and changes the name of the plane to SR-71. --- Dan Tilque -- dant@mrloog.WR.TEK.COM
dps@otter.hpl.hp.com (Duncan Smith) (06/06/90)
From: dps@otter.hpl.hp.com (Duncan Smith) SR-71: Strategic Reconnaissance (redesignated from B-71.) Would anyone care to comment upon/explain the misleading use of DoD designations in the case of the Blackbird? I'm referring to the YF-109 (?) business. Duncan
nicholas@nevada.edu (Nick Holmberg) (06/06/90)
From: nicholas@nevada.edu (Nick Holmberg) In article <1990May29.145207.21418@cbnews.att.com> tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au writes: >I was wondering if someone could tell me what SR stands for >(as in SR-71. ) The SR-71 was originally named the RS-71, but good 'ole Lyndon Baines Johnson juxtaposed Reconnaissance Strike in Strike Recon. Since that didn't make sense and because of some political manuevering, SR was changed to mean Strategic Recon. > Also , if the SR-71 has been put out of service, what >aircraft is replacing it. The F-117? I don't think so. Does >this mean the U.S. has a new Secret Spy plane, or do they feel >it is unnesecary to have one.(I don't think so). I believe that the US Armed forces intend to use satellite cameras, such as those on the KH-11s and Big Birds. But I think that is pretty stupid since you can get a SR-71 anywhere really quick and there will not always be a satellite in position to take a picture. Also there is no known way to jam photographic negatives once the picture is taken. As for using the Stealth, it does not have the range for long recon, but it could be used for battlefield recon, but that I doubt. With such a high price tag and Congress baulking about that same price tag, no Commander would be stupid enuf to use it in that role (no, these planes are reserved for bombing Panamiam barracks - Just kidding. It was a good use of 'em.) Almost any plane can be used for battlefield recon, and several NATO planes have specilized variants to do this (Vig and Tornado, I believe). For thetimate in battlefield recon, the TR-1, a U-2 descendant, is used. This baby orbits at 60k and behind the Forward Line of Battle. It can survey an entire battlefield, maybe more, but raw data esca