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jcthethird — Lockheed B-71 AURORA

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Published: 2021-01-04 04:20:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 9448; Favourites: 103; Downloads: 35
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Description Disclaimer: Everything shown here is a what-if scenario. This is a hypothetical design based on hypothetical situations based on historical events

==Lockheed B-71 “Aurora”==
*Designer: Lockheed
*First Flight: 1965?
*Introduced: 1965?
*Status: Retired in 1985
*Total Built: 3-4
*Operator(s): United States Air Force

In 1959, the United States Air Force requested research & development on a new type of aircraft, one that could fly at speeds in excess of Mach 3, altitudes in excess of 80,000 feet, and, most importantly, remain undetected throughout these operations. North American was tasked with the development of this aircraft, which resulted in the designs for the XB-70 Valkyrie. However, the USAF knew that the program would eventually trip up and be cancelled, so a separate program was initiated that would operate as a black project. The Air Force approached Lockheed, asking them to design a modification to their CIA design called the A-12 Oxcart. Having already designed an interceptor variant (known as the YF-12, later developed into the I-4 program), Lockheed simply modified this design in order to create a Mach 3+, high-altitude strike aircraft. However, creating a stealth aircraft was somewhat difficult, and the already named YB-71 would be difficult to hide from RADAR. So the Air Force authorize the purchase of 32 non-Aurora strategic reconnaissance aircraft, and they decided to name them SR-71s in order to hide the B-71 name.

===Operational History===
Not much is known about the missions the B-71 flew on, but many suspect her biggest targets had been in Libya, Iraq, and Iran, mostly flown during the 1980s when the Iran-Iraq War was at its peak. Her weapons payload was discovered years later in the early 2000s as the Hughes AGM-32 "Houndstooth", a heavy, long-range missile designed to fly up to 1000 miles at Mach 3.6 after being launch from the B-71.
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voltagelife7 [2024-04-27 10:50:13 +0000 UTC]

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tumarkin [2021-08-28 16:02:36 +0000 UTC]

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jcthethird In reply to tumarkin [2021-08-28 16:10:13 +0000 UTC]

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