Finally: US FIRST Hypersonic Aircraft

There is an ongoing silent battle between China and the US, the two largest economies in the world. These nations have been able to fund their rivalry to unimaginable heights. Combined, both nations account for a military budget of over one trillion dollars, which is more than the military budget of all other nations combined. Thanks to this budget, China and the US share the top two positions in a wide array of metrics, from the largest and second-largest active land armies to the largest and second-largest aircraft carrier fleet in the world. Simply put, these two nations have been unable to shake off one another in terms of military dominance. That is until now.

Hypersonic technology has become a top priority for world powers across the world, including the US and China. However, the two nations have developed opposing sides of this technology. China has gained a lead in applying supersonic technology to missiles through its operational df-17 hypersonic missile, which has a top speed exceeding Mach 5 and a space bordering flight ceiling of 197,000 feet. The US, on the other hand, has no hypersonic missile in operation, but the country does have the lead in applying hypersonic technology to aircraft propulsion. Currently, the US has at least three different hypersonic programs contributing to the development of hypersonic aircraft, which is more than can be said about China.

As a result, the battle between China and the US has grown into one of hypersonic missiles against hypersonic jets. However, when speeds are matched mock for mock, aircraft usually have the advantage, thanks to their versatility in performing a wide array of tasks. Therefore, on aggregate, the US could be seen as being in the lead. China, in its quest to catch up, seems to have resorted to spy balloons flying over the US in an attempt to collect sensitive data of a reported one billion dollar hypersonic jet.

The capabilities that come with hypersonic aircraft are simply too invincible to ignore. The world has in fact seen such invincibility before, 60 years ago when the US developed an aircraft that outran every missile that ever fired at it and could never be shot down. That aircraft remains the world's fastest to this day: the 292 million dollar SR-71 Blackbird. The SR-71 Blackbird was the result of a secret black project that would introduce the world to the dominance that came with a combination of stealth and speed. The jet is 92 percent made of the strongest metal ever discovered: titanium. It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney J58 engines producing 32,000 pounds of thrust each. These engines were responsible for the blurry hypersonic top speed of Mach 3.2 and its record altitude of 85,000 feet. This altitude record hasn't been broken to this day, and for context of how high that is, the SR-71 pilots had to wear pressurised suits like astronauts do because they were very nearly in space.

Unrivalled globally in how fast it could travel and how high, the SR-71 was the go-to strategic reconnaissance aircraft for the US Air Force, CIA, and NASA for missions. The jet justified this by a high mission success rate, even in missions when it was spotted by enemy radar. That's quite a feat for a jet that had no weapons. Apparently, it didn't need them for protection. Should the jet come under fire, no bullet, missile, or lightning was fast enough or could climb high enough to take it down.

After a rich 35 years of service, the SR-71 was retired. However, the invincibility it once offered is once again needed, and so the US is working to revive it in a new skin, new game, and with new capabilities through any or every one