The development of many warplanes around the world – particularly those of the modern era – is obscured by rumors and mixed up reports of unidentified aerial phenomena. Sometimes they are altered to fit narratives explaining mysterious environmental oddities (i.e. mysterious sonic booms) or a number of secret government installations. The US military has a well-documented history of building and testing advanced technologies – and summarily denying the existence of anything. Take, for example, the development cycle of all stealth aircraft or the SR-82 Darkstarto name just a few.

Advertisement

The SR-91 Aurora would be a hypersonic high-altitude intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, capable of reaching speeds near Mach 5 at altitudes of 90,000 feet. It was intended to replace the SR-71 Blackbird, which first took flight in 1964 and became the world’s fastest plane in 1976, screaming through the sky at 2,193 miles per hour (more three times the speed of sound). . Although this is still impressive, it now amounts to driving in the slow lane (Experience the record speed of the X-43 powered by a NASA scramjet).

The media first heard of “Aurora” in 1985 during a congressional appropriations hearing where the name was attached to a Pentagon budget request for the Blackbird and U-2 projects. Then, in 1989, a Royal Observer Corps oil exploration engineer, Chris Gibson, claimed to have spotted a triangle-shaped plane flying over the North Sea, escorted by two fighter jets, while being refueled in flight by a KC-135 tanker. , which further fueled speculation around this latest clandestine plane.

Advertisement

In the early 1990s, several earthquakes (mysterious sonic booms) were heard in the skies over Los Angeles and were believed to have been caused by the SR-91 as it took off from Groom Lake, Nevada (Area 51). In 1993, the Fox network’s “The X-Files” premiered. The second episode of the series (“Deep Throat”) involved UFOs, experimental aircraft, and technology with stealth weapons that was said to have been directly inspired by the rumors surrounding the Aurora.

Advertisement

The following year (1994), a book was published by Ben Rich, the former director of Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the division that built the F-117A Nighthawk, the U-2 and SR-71 Merle. Skunk Works was also working on the SR-91. According to Rich, in the early days of the stealth bomber competition, funding came from a “secret stash in the Air Force budget.” Ironically, the code name Aurora was randomly given to the entire B-2 stealth bomber project by a colonel in the Air Force’s “black program” office at the Pentagon.

Rich claims the media picked up the name, connected random dots, and attributed it all to the SR-91 specifically, although he claims such a plane never existed. Yet the Aurora story would not die. A report was released several years later (May 2006) by the British Ministry of Defense, claiming that the US Air Force was planning to build a supersonic vehicle capable of reaching Mach 4 to 6, which would match the Speed ​​settings shown for the Aurora.

Advertisement

That same year, noted aviation writer Bill Sweetman publicly stated that his 20 years of experience reviewing military budgets and “hunting down untraceable dollars and code names” considered the Air Force’s operating budget Air Force 2006 – which included a $9 billion black hole – could very well be irrefutable proof that the Aurora was in the works. At the time, other clandestine projects were underway simultaneously and were likely intended to receive this money.

Advertisement

Aurora probably never existed, at least not a clandestine hypersonic one. However, there is one aircraft with the designation “Aurora”: the CP-140 Aurora (another of the The many Lockheed jets made over the years), a maritime patrol aircraft used for anti-submarine warfare by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The advancement of spy satellites constantly orbiting the globe and high-flying reconnaissance drones that can be remotely controlled have made big-budget hypersonic spy planes unnecessary these days. The US government has consistently denied its existence, and words from the very man inside who would know if it actually existed support these claims. He even gives logical reasons why it became a thing in the first place, all of which are stronger arguments than any vague circumstantial evidence. Ultimately, the true (and boring) story surrounding SR-91 is far less exciting than the huge tale/urban legend/conspiracy theory that materialized.

Advertisement