<font color="yellow">"The "Blackbird" SR-70 didn't exist either, right? What do you think superseded it as it did the U-2? They just gave up the whole spy aircraft program? "</font><br /><br />Actually -- yes. At least if you're talking in terms of high-altitude recon planes. 98% of the utility of the SR-71 has been replaced by satellites. My father is a retired Air Force Colonel. He flew tankers and later worked in maintainance. He said the SR-71 was hugely expensive to fly and a major pain in the ass. Because it carried little fuel (and the fuel tanks leaked until it was at speed), every time it flew there had to be three tankers in the air (Primary, Secondary, Backup) plus another crewed tanker sitting on the ground as emergency backup.<br /><br />The only portion of the SR-71s duties that *can't* be fulfilled by satellites is real-time recon when there is not a satellite overhead. For this -- the military is using UAVs. They're cheaper, don't risk the loss of a pilot, and are directly in the hands of the people that need them, and so can provide more timely data.<br /><br />There's also talk of building high-altitude dirigibles to recon battlefield areas -- but this isn't really filling a hole left by the loss of the SR-71 but instead providing an entirely new capabaility. These would allow <b>long-term</b> (days, weeks, possibly months) of continuous real-time recon over the battelfield.<br />