Thread

NASA asked several former SR-71A staffers to help secret restart

327 points · 403 comments · ilamont

yodon · 1790727412 · focus · HN ↗
The SR-71 is cool, but this article is not at all confidence inspiring on many fronts.
Guy being interviewed by a reporter about a secret project. A secret project that is trying to resurrect an antique plane that has been subject to weather and on display as a museum piece for many years.
It sounds like a clown-show staged around a cool looking plane that's older than 90+% of HN readers.
1. ceejayoz · 1790727737 · focus · HN ↗
  > It sounds like a clown-show…
  Well, the President wants to redesign the Navy to look "cool" - battleships, carriers with steam catapults again and center islands. Why not the Air Force too?
  1. snypher · 1790729062 · focus · HN ↗
    I wish this were the case; if it were for cool points the F-117 would be back!
    justin66 · 1790729880 · focus · HN ↗
    Little known fact (but not a secret): the F-117 is still flown today, even though they were "retired" in 2008.
    <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZFwOGfhRZ8" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZFwOGfhRZ8
    I gather they serve mostly as aggressors and test aircraft - certainly one wouldn't fly that plane into combat. They were never ruinously expensive to operate. The SR-71 on the other hand...
    walrus01 · 1790731528 · focus · HN ↗
    The F117 is in active use as a stand-in/simulator for opposing force semi-stealthy subsonic cruise missiles for radar range testing. People see them flying all the time.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.