Although President Lydon Johnson announced the development of the Lockheed SR-71 in 1964 which would be instrumental in the flyovers of Russian airspace to monitor Soviet missile sites, the Communists knew about it earlier. Using their spy satellites which flew over Edwards Air Force Base where the Blackbird was being tested, the satellites were equipped with infra-red sensors. Personnel knowing at Edwards that the Soviet satellite flyovers occurred every 90 minutes, either the SR-71’s would need to be sheltered in a hangar, or a mock up model to distract the satellite imagery would need to be deployed.

The Mach 3 SR-71 is said to be even more high speed capable, but this information is classified. There was only one fighter jet that was a prototype in 1959 that could attain such speeds but only for a short “Jump” and that was the F-8 Super Crusader! Sadly, that fighter lost in competition to the F-4 Phantom even though it is said that in mock dogfights the Super Crusader mastered the F-4!  One can only speculate how conflicts like Vietnam would have ended up with Super Crusaders in the air superiority role being that it’s little brother the F-8, a slower and smaller fighter interceptor achieved a 19 to 1 kill ratio over the MIG’s it flew combat against.

Technicians had just rolled the SR-71 they were testing into a hangar at Edwards AFB just before the Russian spy satellite flew over the California desert and took photos. The Russians did not sight the SR-71 itself, but they did photograph the cooling signature of its silhouette against the hotter desert turf where the Blackbird had cast its shadow. The infrared sensors that scanned Edwards AFB from below caught the outlines of the SR-71 detecting the temperature contrast! This happened sometime in the early 60’s but the Soviets had no answer for the ultra-highspeed, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft!

The SR-71 was originally intended as an air superiority fighter, but the costs were not within budget. It is also notable that the predecessor was the A-12 Avenger II which was a pure flying wing that the US Navy would use as an attack aircraft, but once again, an incredible program was cancelled due to cost overruns in 1991. In such futuristic programs as the Valkyrie high-speed high-altitude bomber and its escort fighter the X-F-108 Rapier, both exceptional platforms even by today’s standards, once again cancelled over budgetary concerns.  

The Blackbird would end up overflying the Soviet Union with virtual impunity and the Russian attempted to intercept the SR-71 with their MIG-25 “Foxbat” and MIG-31 “Foxhound” fighter jets without success. SR-71 pilots often toyed with the Russians descending to altitudes where the Soviet pilots could operate, teasing them, and then simply using their superior Mach capability to out distance not only the Russian fighters at full afterburner but even their air-to-air missiles they attempted to bring down the Blackbird with!  

Soviet MIG-31 pilot attempting to chase the SR-71 Blackbird.