Lockheed’s SR-72 Hypersonic Successor To The Blackbird Still Hasn’t Flown & Here’s Why

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was a marvel of Cold War engineering, and to the perplexity and dismay of many, it was retired in 1989 (temporarily) and 1998 (permanently) without a direct replacement. Many enthusiasts were happy when Lockheed Martin publicly unveiled the SR-72 “Son of Blackbird” spiritual successor program in 2013, before the program went dark again. It’s now 2026, and the aircraft is not yet known to have flown.