Maj. Maury Rosenberg, the SR-71 pilot, and Maj. E. D. McKim, the RSO, were heading southwest on their final pass over the DMZ when North Korea launched two Soviet SA-2 SAMs at their aircraft
The Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft were the basis for the long-range, high-tech, strategic reconnaissance aircraft known as the SR-71, also known as the “Blackbird.” The first SR-71 to enter service was delivered to the 4200th (later 9th) Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale Air Force Base, California, in January 1966. The SR-71’s first flight took place on December 22, 1964.
It streaked across hostile skies, gathering intelligence in a couple of seconds because of its extraordinary speed. It could survey 100,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface per hour from an altitude of 80,000 feet.
A hostile action has never resulted in the loss or damage of an SR-71. It was quite challenging for enemy radars to locate the aircraft. The leading edges and vertical rudders of the SR-71 were made of composite material and used the original stealth technology. Asbestos and epoxy were used to give high-temperature resistance and radar-absorbent properties that decreased the radar cross-section (RCS).
The RCS was further decreased by the use of an antiradar coating made of iron ferrites on the leading edges, as explained by former Blackbird pilot Col. Richard H. Graham, USAF (Ret.), in his book The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird: The Illustrated Profile of Every Aircraft, Crew, and Breakthrough of the World’s Fastest Stealth Jet.
The SR-71 effectively became the first stealth aircraft. According to Ben Rich, who led Lockheed Skunk Works from 1975 to 1991, the SR-71’s design reduces the RCS by 65%, and the iron ferrite radar-absorbing coating reduces it by an additional 35%. The RCS of the SR-71 depicted a target that was less than 10 square meters in size at cruising speed and altitude. For purposes of reference, the RCS of an F-15 fighter is around 100 square meters. Even if the SR-71 could be located on radar, the time it took for a missile to lock onto it and make a successful kill wasn’t simply enough.
On Wednesday, August 26, 1981, a single missile shot at an SR-71 was publicly acknowledged by the US government. Maj. Maury Rosenberg, the pilot of the SR-71, and Maj. E. D. McKim, the RSO, were heading southwest on their final pass over the DMZ when North Korea launched two Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) at their aircraft.
Major McKim was the first to detect something unusual thanks to his DEF system, which immediately jammed the missile’s guidance system and lit up his cockpit displays. DEF devices were carried in SR-71’s chine bays and were designed to jam or spoof any radar or SAM system as appropriate. After informing Major Rosenberg of his DEF indicators, he quickly glanced to the right to catch a glimpse of the approaching missiles. As a result of the incident, crews are much more cautious when crossing the Korean DMZ in the future.
North Korea, at that time, denied American accusations that its military had fired SAMs at the SR-71.
On August 29, 1981, Henry Scott Stokes reported for the New York Times, “North Korea said nothing about whether such an attack had been made in what it defines as its own airspace. Issuing its first direct statement on the incident, the official North Korean press agency charged that the SR-71 had violated ‘the territorial air of the northern half of our republic,’ meaning North Korea […].
“Since 1977, however, North Korea has maintained that its military borders extend 50 miles to sea from its eastern and western coasts. It describes its territorial limit as 12 miles from shore. The United States officially recognizes a limit of only 3 miles.
“The North Korean statement charged that the SR-71 mission was part of ‘maneuvers to aggravate tension and start a new war in Korea.’ It accused the United States of fabricating a story about a missile attack and of ‘groundlessly slandering’ North Korea.
Stokes continues: “North Korea’s denial came in a sentence in which the Pentagon’s term ‘international airspace’ was rendered as ‘above high seas.’ ‘According to foreign reports,’ the statement said, ‘the U.S. Defense Department announced on Aug. 26 that the high-altitude reconnaissance plane of the U.S. Air Force, SR-71, seemed to be attacked by a North Korean missile above high seas, groundlessly slandering us.’ “
“The Pentagon announcement on Wednesday did not directly accuse the North Koreans of shooting at the plane as it flew in ‘South Korean and international airspace.’ It said, ‘If a missile was launched, it could have originated from any one of a number of missile sites in North Korea.’
“But Dean Fischer, the State Department spokesman, said yesterday that the United States had been able to confirm that North Korean forces ‘fired a missile at a U.S. Air Force plane flying in South Korean and international airspace’ in a routine mission similar to those conducted in the region for years.
“On Aug. 14, North Korea complained that SR-71s had intruded into North Korean airspace eight times this month. ‘The flight patterns are only over South Korea and international airspace,’ an American military official said at the time. ‘They don’t go over North Korea.’
“A United States military spokesman said in Seoul today that North Korea had objected to an American proposal for a special meeting of the Korean Military Armistice Commission at Panmunjom tomorrow to discuss the plane incident. He said North Korea had proposed that it be held Sept. 5.”
Stokes concludes: “The incident came a week after two American F-14’s shot down two Soviet-built Libyan Su-22s during maneuvers in the Gulf of Sidra off Libya. That case also involved disputed territorial limits.”
Remarkably, although there have been stories of over a thousand SAMs being fired at the SR-71, Rich claims that the actual number is closer to one hundred in his book. Graham claims that this number is more accurate.
Photo by U.S. Air Force