The first stealth plane
The SR-71, commonly referred to as the “Blackbird,” was a strategic reconnaissance aircraft capable of flying at speeds of Mach 3+, developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A models. The inaugural flight of an SR-71 occurred on December 22, 1964, and the first operational SR-71 was delivered to the 4200th (later renamed the 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base in California in January 1966.
It was capable of Mach 3 and still holds the record for the fastest “air-breathing manned aircraft” in the world. Its speed and ability to operate at high altitudes served as a defensive feature; when attacked by surface-to-air missiles, the pilot needed only to accelerate to avoid being struck.
No SR-71 has ever been lost or damaged because of hostile actions. The aircraft was exceptionally hard for hostile radars to detect. Employing early stealth technology, the wings, tail, and fuselage of the SR-71 were covered in paint that contained iron ferrites, allowing it to absorb radar energy instead of reflecting it back to the source. As a result, the SR-71 was the first plane designed with stealth capabilities. When flying at cruising speeds and altitudes, the radar cross-section of the SR-71 was comparable to that of a J-3 Piper Cub.
The intercept problem
As told by SR-71 Blackbird pilot Richard H. Graham in his book SR-71: The Complete Illustrated History of the Blackbird, The World’s Highest, Fastest Plane, even if the SR-71 could be found on radar, its detection was so late that there was simply not enough time for a SAM to compute the lead for a successful kill.
The plane also carried sophisticated electronic countermeasures (ECM) equipment to electronically jam and deny the enemy our range and bearing. Consequently, the SR-71’s ECM was continually updated to counter the latest enemy electronic order of battle (EOB). The EOB for flying in Europe was considerably different than flying in the Pacific region. The RSO could control the jammers manually or let them run in automatic mode to electronically jam a specific threat frequency.
On Sep. 6, 1976, Soviet pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko defected to Japan in a MiG-25. Subsequently, he wrote a book titled MiG Pilot in which he described the intercept problem.
‘American reconnaissance planes, SR-71s, were prowling off` the coast, staying outside Soviet airspace by photographing terrain hundreds of miles inland with side-angle cameras. They taunted and toyed with the MiG-25s sent up to intercept them, scooting up to altitudes the Soviet planes could not reach and circling leisurely above them or dashing off at speeds the Russians could not match.
Why MiG-25 interceptors couldn’t catch SR-71 Blackbird spy planes
‘[The Soviets] had a master plan to intercept an SR-71 by positioning a MiG-25 in front of it and one below it, and when the SR-71 passed, they would fire missiles. But it never occurred. Soviet computers were very primitive, and there is no way that mission can be accomplished.
‘First of all, the SR-71 flies too high and too fast. The MiG-25 cannot reach it or catch it. Secondly… the missiles are useless above 27,000 meters [88,000 feet] and as you know, the SR-71 cruises much higher.’
Belenko concludes;
‘But even if we could reach it, our missiles lack the velocity to overtake the SR-71 if they are fired in a tail chase. And if they are fired head-on, the guidance systems cannot adjust quickly enough to the high closing speed.’
Another reason Belenko’s missiles wouldn’t work against the SR-71 is that most air-to-air missiles are optimized to maneuver in the thicker air below around 30,000 feet in order to shoot down an enemy plane. Firing at the SR-71, cruising at 75,000 feet, the air is so thin that any maneuvering capability of the missile is practically nonexistent.
Top SR-71 Blackbird photo: Stuart Freer
Photo by NASA, U.S. Navy, Alex Beltyukov and Dmitriy Pichugin via Wikipedia