Key Points and Summary - Conceived in the 1950s to swat Soviet bombers before they reached U.S. airspace, the North American XF-108 Rapier promised Mach 3 performance via twin GE J93s and a novel ...

Airplane performance specifications don’t often make the news anymore. The tempo of aerospace development has slowed since the earlier eras of jet technology, when speed and altitude seemed to be ...

Key Points and Summary - The SR-71 Blackbird’s Mach 3 speed, altitude, and modest radar-reduction tempted some to imagine a fighter-bomber variant—outrunning interceptors, dodging SAMs, and trucking ...

Around the conclusion of the Cold War, the SR-71 was falling out of favor. The shift in attitude was owed in large part to the Soviet decline, which spoiled the SR-71’s most important reconnaissance ...