Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Drunk
They may have tried, but just for the heck of it.
|
Yes, because expending operational warshot missiles - large ones at that, considering the SR-71 requires high-altitude performance in its adversaries - 'just for the heck of it' is just what military professionals like to do.
At least 3,000 missiles were fired at the thing.
By virtue of flying at one fifteenth or lower the altitude of a satellite, and using proper film instead of primitive early digital, an SR-71 could snap far, far more detailed pictures than just satellites at the time.
Quote:
|
Had the XB-70 and fighter SR-71 been operational, they would have had their Tupolevs and Sotkas.
|
XB-70 - cancelled by 1969. T-4 - cancelled by 1976.
Also XB-70 = embarrassingly superior aircraft.
Quote:
|
By the time the SR 71 was fully operational by the late '60s / early '70s, both sides had very good satellite tech. and Russian and American spies on the ground were doing the REAL job.
|
Refer earlier.
Quote:
What more worthy task could an SR 71 have had over Russia than to just take a snap of the frightening Foxbat on the ground
|
The Foxbat is not a frightening aircraft by any stretch of the imagination.