Retired Viggen Pilot on acquiring missile lock on the SR71 Blackbird - ENG subs
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- One needs to actually TURN ON the English subtitles. (Starts at 0:05)
Retired fighter-pilot Thorbjörn Engback tells the story on how he and other Swedish fighter pilots successfully acquired air-to-air missile lock on the American SR71 Blackbird, in their SAAB 37 Viggens, utilizing the British Sky-flash missile.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own this. Uploaded with ENG-subtitles for educational purposes. Fair use applies.
Let's keep the salty comments to a minimum and enjoy this piece of military history in mutual respect.
If the Viggen would have been able to get an actual kill-shot on the SR71, we will thankfully never know.
The 4 Viggen pilots who escorted the SR71 with engine failure (With Soviet fighters scrambled and in pursuit) was awarded the "Air medal" by the U.S. Air force in November 2018.
Its just speculation on my part . And appreciating the marvel of engineering
That explains why the SR-71 was only doing mach 2.2, because with both engines the SR71 is most efficient above Mach 3. So I'm gonna have to call click-bait on your title here.
@@rockets4kids Missile lock acquisition is no big deal when an SR71 is following a recurrent pattern at a 'slow' speed. If it were for all the marbles, they would never have acquired a missile lock.
@@billyboblillybob344 agreed.
LMAO! Getting a lock on an SR-71 was a ROUTINE occurrence (my friend was an SR-71 pilot). The problem was that the missiles could not catch and HIT the SR-71 when it was flying an real recon mission.
It is hilarious how so many people interpret a pilot talking about how they used the SR-71 to do perform a special kind of exercise to be criticism of the SR-71. He never once said anything directly critical and there was no hint of criticism in his voice, which one is able to tell moreso if one actually speaks Swedish. He simply explains the situation very matter of factly without stating many conclusions - quite a typical behavioural trait from people in the Swedish military: "report what you see, not what you think".
Excellent comment.
Man if people would report what they see more in the security field and not what they think, lvl 3 and 4 guards would have a much better rep in after action reports.
Doubt he locked on and it wouldn't matter if he did the plane has outflow 4,000 missiles no sr71 was ever shot down
@@mosthatedandroidtunernolim9800Sure, but he did get a lock on.
I think the salty Americans in the comments section here should be a bit more grateful. REMEMBER! Swedish pilots were recently awarded US Air Medals for saving the SR-71 blackbird spy plane.
And for those who clearly don't know what they're talking about allow me to educate you. By the mid-1980s, Swedish Viggen fighter pilots, using the predictable patterns of the SR-71 routine flights over the Baltic Sea, had managed to achieve radar lock-on with radar on the SR-71 on numerous occasions. Despite heavy jamming from the SR-71, target illumination was maintained by feeding target location from ground-based radars to the fire-control computer in the Viggen. The most common site for the lock-on to occur was the thin stretch of international airspace between Öland and Gotland that the SR-71 used on the return flight. The Viggen is the only aircraft to get an acknowledged radar lock on the SR-71.
Here's also a funny joke about this incident -----> imgur.com/wuzrUBN
Unlike you lot i will actually include sources and proof for my claims. Good reads for those who are interested. Sweden is a neutral country but it's technology and craftsmanship is not to be underestimated. Look up "Swedish submarine sinking USS Reagan in war game". It's when a Swedish Submarine successfully sank the US navy in a simulated war game. It has millions of views here on RUclips. Sweden also makes state of the art tanks, rockets, submarines and much more such as Bofors.
The United States and Sweden are allies so do not go around insulting each other! We are friends not enemies.
Sources
www.stripes.com/news/cold-war-declassified-swedish-pilots-honored-for-protecting-crippled-us-spy-plane-from-soviets-1.558582 Swedish Viggen pilots risking their lives to escort a crippled SR-71 Blackbird to safety.
www.businessinsider.com/sr-71-intercepted-4-viggens-after-violating-swedens-airspace?r=US&IR=T
www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/12/30/finally-declassified-swedish-pilots-awarded-us-air-medals-for-saving-sr-71-spy-plane/
fighterjetsworld.com/historic-aircraft-and-incident/when-a-viggen-fighter-pilot-were-able-to-achieve-radar-lock-on-the-legendary-sr-71/2573/
theaviationgeekclub.com/short-movie-shows-swedish-ja-37-viggen-fighter-jet-achieving-radar-lock-on-sr-71-blackbird-mach-3-spy-plane/
www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a19784775/gotland-class-sub-ronald-reagan-war-games/
nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/swedens-super-stealth-submarines-are-so-lethal-they-sank-us-18383
ruclips.net/video/saCdvAp5cow/видео.html
American and total viggenphile here. People forget how close some of these SAM engagements were for the SR-71/A-12. Close enough in some cases to fly by within sight of the pilot. They also tend to forget that the SR-71 and A-12 never overflew any sophisticated enemy nation during conflict due to the Gary Powers incident. Launch something at the right altitude with the right firing solution and it might just have the logic and energy to meet you where you're going. Particularly when you're turning and burning and end up with an 'unstart.'
These planes had their weaknesses and stayed well out of Soviet (at best a 2nd world power) territory because of it. People tend to forget that in order to mitigate or disregard others strengths. Yes the SR/A-12 had extremely high speed and an extremely low radar cross section, but even the CIA and USAF understood their weaknesses and went literally above and beyond to avoid them.
"I think the salty Americans in the comments section here"
Time of change in America. Other nations are catching up to us, and passing us by. The Russian S-500 has no peer in the US arsenal. I believe that the S-500 is going to be adapted to a nationwide Ballistic Missile Defense against the US and against China. Since the S-500 can motor around it's going to be a tough bird to catch and blast.
Some Russian air craft are really nice. I suspect that China is heading in that direction as well. China is on the rise.
We Americans need to adapt to a multipolar world. It's not our planet. We don't own it.
It'll take time for this reality to sink in.
I believe that Swedish neutrality is important to them. They have avoided two World Wars and the Cold War by doing their own thing.
Part of being neutral is not picking favorites or taking sides.
If I were a Swedish Defense Force Officer I would insist on taking looks at the SR-71. What does it do? How does it work? Do our weapons work on it?
I would tell the American Defense Attache "We live next to the USSR. They're our close neighbors. We are not going to tell you how to conduct your Cold War. If you want to send SR71s into our near abroad we are going to take looks at them. If you don't mind we will do weapons practice. You can use it as a harmless way to determine how well your electronic defense system works. Win/win.
Nothing personal. Just business. The business of being a Neutral Power."
Swede here, we did not avoid the cold war on the contrary we where very much apart of it.
The possibility of a Russian invasion was a reality we lived under during this era and people where worried.
Our defenses(and defense spendig )was on high alert during this time and we had some close encounters ad well.
For instance we had Submarines violating our territorial waters all the time to the point where one run aground and caused a diplomatic crisis.
Anyways we are now finding our self's as well as you in a "new cold war" that in my opinion is worse then the first one since nobody really has a grasp of the severity or has a full picture of the situation in hand. And the rules and the
players intentions are not yet in place or understood fully.
Oh your so proud of a win in a "WAR GAME". I guess that means you could defeat the total power of the US military.
This is what's wrong with all our alliances. You act like women and think you are entitled to the protection of the US military.
I would like the US to abandon your "very advanced military" to protect yourself. We get nothing but disrespect from Europe.
Hell yes, Im proud of the swedes , they pulled us out of what was instant death or capture.... When they got their US air medals I teared up.. The ungreatful Americans with bad reviews are members of our Liberal Democratic Party and they are working on some real national security poop Like , who is suppose to spend a penny when they need to use the Gents room, men or women... And vice versa with the women... You see why we are son Embarrassed around by all this Tom foolery... They are dividing people into groups and pinning them against one another it's an old tactic culture with propaganda pinning cultures and citizens against citizens... We can only pray they're in their safe space We don't want anybody's feelings to get her when we're naming out these 25 new genders
Saab has always produced some of the very best single-engine designs. Beginning with the excellent Draken, their mastery of delta-wing development made them the equal of Dassault. The superb Viggen should've enjoyed export success. Its STOL capability, ease of maintenance, and other factors would've made it an all-around good choice for the Swiss: but Northrop was able to deliver the less-capable F-5 at a substantially lower price.
Volvo Aero engines👌
STOL means short take of and landning, for those who wants to know
I worked in the late 1960s at a radar site at Eglin AFB that duplicated a SAM-2 missile tracking radar,. For a time we had the comparable VHF search radar in the SAM-2 system sitting in our parking lot. A SR71 happened to be flying by, so we set up to track it with me running the PPI scope for the search radar. We were told repeatedly told where it was but it did no good. We never saw it on either radar. Even more impressive, on that PPI scope, I had only two sweeps to see it inbound and two outbound. The safety of the U2 depended on its altitude. That of the SR71 depended more on its speed. By the time an air defense system saw it, it was too late to catch.
This pilot's testimony means little, particularly the radar track. SR71 has a low radar profile, but it's not intended to be invisible, just hard to track at a distance and particularly from the front. The bad guys typically don't see it until it is screaming overhead at Mach 3 and impossible to catch. Whether this pilot could have fired a missile that would have caught it or not matters little. The SR71 pilot knew he was in friendly airspace, so he wasn't doing anything evasive. That'd include not following a predictable path and flying higher and faster than he was.
For SR71 fans, here's an account of an overflight of a hostile Libya, when radars locked on and the air filled with missiles. The plane was like a thoroughbred horse. It loved to travel fast.
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Walt continues to update me with numerous reactions he sees on the DEF panel. He is receiving missile tracking signals. With each mile we traverse, every two seconds, I become more uncomfortable driving deeper into this barren and hostile land. I am glad the DEF panel is not in the front seat. It would be a big distraction now, seeing the lights flashing. In contrast, my cockpit is "quiet" as the jet purrs and relishes her new-found strength, continuing to slowly accelerate.
The spikes are full aft now, tucked twenty-six inches deep into the nacelles. With all inlet doors tightly shut, at 3.24 Mach, the J-58s are more like ramjets now, gulping 100,000 cubic feet of air per second. We are a roaring express now, and as we roll through the enemy's backyard, I hope our speed continues to defeat the missile radars below. We are approaching a turn, and this is good. It will only make it more difficult for any launched missile to solve the solution for hitting our aircraft.
I push the speed up at Walt's request. The jet does not skip a beat, nothing fluctuates, and the cameras have a rock steady platform. Walt received missile launch signals. Before he can say anything else, my left hand instinctively moves the throttles yet farther forward. My eyes are glued to temperature gauges now, as I know the jet will willingly go to speeds that can harm her. The temps are relatively cool and from all the warm temps we've encountered thus far, this surprises me but then, it really doesn't surprise me. Mach 3.31 and Walt is quiet for the moment.
I move my gloved finder across the small silver wheel on the autopilot panel which controls the aircraft's pitch. With the deft feel known to Swiss watchmakers, surgeons, and "dinosaurs" (old- time pilots who not only fly an airplane but "feel it"), I rotate the pitch wheel somewhere between one-sixteenth and one-eighth inch location, a position which yields the 500-foot-per-minute climb I desire. The jet raises her nose one-sixth of a degree and knows, I'll push her higher as she goes faster. The Mach continues to rise, but during this segment of our route, I am in no mood to pull throttles back.
Walt's voice pierces the quiet of my cockpit with the news of more missile launch signals. The gravity of Walter's voice tells me that he believes the signals to be a more valid threat than the others. Within seconds he tells me to "push it up" and I firmly press both throttles against their stops. For the next few seconds, I will let the jet go as fast as she wants. A final turn is coming up and we both know that if we can hit that turn at this speed, we most likely will defeat any missiles. We are not there yet, though, and I'm wondering if Walt will call for a defensive turn off our course.
With no words spoken, I sense Walter is thinking in concert with me about maintaining our programmed course. To keep from worrying, I glance outside, wondering if I'll be able to visually pick up a missile aimed at us. Odd are the thoughts that wander through one's mind in times like these. I found myself recalling the words of former SR-71 pilots who were fired upon while flying missions over North Vietnam . They said the few errant missile detonations they were able to observe from the cockpit looked like implosions rather than explosions. This was due to the great speed at which the jet was hurling away from the exploding missile.
I see nothing outside except the endless expanse of a steel blue sky and the broad patch of tan earth far below. I have only had my eyes out of the cockpit for seconds, but it seems like many minutes since I have last checked the gauges inside. Returning my attention inward, I glance first at the miles counter telling me how many more to go, until we can start our turn. Then I note the Mach, and passing beyond 3.45 (2625mph), I realize that Walter and I have attained new personal records. The Mach continues to increase. The ride is incredibly smooth.
There seems to be a confirmed trust now, between me and the jet; she will not hesitate to deliver whatever speed we need, and I can count on no problems with the inlets. Walt and I are ultimately depending on the jet now - more so than normal - and she seems to know it. The cooler outside temperatures have awakened the spirit born into her years ago, when men dedicated to excellence took the time and care to build her well. With spikes and doors as tight as they can get, we are racing against the time it could take a missile to reach our altitude.
It is a race this jet will not let us lose. The Mach eases to 3.5 as we crest 80,000 feet. We are a bullet now - except faster. We hit the turn, and I feel some relief as our nose swings away from a country we have seen quite enough of. Screaming past Tripoli , our phenomenal speed continues to rise, and the screaming Sled pummels the enemy one more time, laying down a parting sonic boom. In seconds, we can see nothing but the expansive blue of the Mediterranean . I realize that I still have my left hand full-forward and we're continuing to rocket along in maximum afterburner.
The TDI now shows us Mach numbers, not only new to our experience but flat out scary. Walt says the DEF panel is now quiet, and I know it is time to reduce our incredible speed. I pull the throttles to the min 'burner range and the jet still doesn't want to slow down. Normally the Mach would be affected immediately, when making such a large throttle movement. But for just a few moments old 960 just sat out there at the high Mach, she seemed to love and like the proud Sled she was, only began to slow when we were well out of danger. I loved that jet.
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freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/1981814/posts
I absolutely LOVE to read stories about the blackbird, i am starting to believe that she was a living creature after all, made to stalk on the enemy and only let her roar as a reminder of its presence.
The Mach numbers in the mission story seem to be about 1/10 or 1/8 faster than the published maximums for the SR-71 and the ones SR-71s attained doing transcontinental speed records. Interesting.
great read. Tha bird must have been a phenomenon.. and I'm not sure if the pilotes became "dinosaurs" themselves when flying the SR71.
Just. Fucking. Wow! Thank you, Sir.
@@arealassassin ,
It is interesting to me how he casually mentions going faster than the officially recorded speed runs for those international aviation record organizations. Mach 3.6+? is what he hinted at. Slightly faster than Mach 3.33 I believe is what is in the record books. I don't think the flight crews really cared about Mach numbers. I believe they were told to watch for any prolonged flight at certain airframe temperatures or engine temperatures.
Thank you very much for subtitles.
I'm happy for the Viggen pilot that he had such an incredible experience sharing some airspace (relatively speaking) with a SR-71 cruising by. That's a fighter jet pilot's dream come true and makes for great pub talk with his fellow pilots. I'm a little envious.
This is so privilege listening indeed! During the Cold War period , this was Classified! Thank You So Much for sharing! Stay Safe & Stay Humble! 🕯🌷🕊
The SR-71 being retired is a true tale of a legendary aircraft. But truth be told the world of war is developing into a different way now.
Everyone seems to miss the fact that he said they were heading straight at it when acquring the lock. You can't really outrun someting that's coming from your front, right?
@Elias Håkansson Your math is off, 1 degree at 1km gives a side movement of about 17m. Not a very high deviation at all. Also Viggens radar guided missile was capable of 30g turns with 50km range. But as said, they had to follow a very specific attack profile to get a possible shot.
Many years ago I spoke to the crew of an SR 71 at Mildenhall air show and they told me that if any weapon was fired at them they would simply outrun it, I miss those air shows and the SR 71
At the top end speeds the SR-71 could run at, a defensive S pattern would leave just about any single stage air to air missile completely out of energy trying to course correct for intercept across literal miles of deviation from even minor changes in direction. That and the fact that the crews were well aware of the Viggens and what they were up to. Hence no full burn and no defensive turns at max speed... when you're in a machine that classified (at the time) with eyes on you, they don't look too kindly on you showing off the full combat abilities unless needed or authorized. Missiles have been fired in anger at the Blackbird and she's walked off an left all but the biggest multistage sort in the dust. But good on those Viggen pilots for seeing an opportunity for a challenge and doing what they could to test the edge of their skill and aircraft.
SR-71s have had 2000 hostile missile launches fired at them.
@@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs that's so crazy
Nonsense. You're talking through your rear end buddy. The SR71 had a top speed of Mach 3.2. That's it. End of story.
The SR71 had a HORRIBLE turning radius. It would not be able to out maneuver any missiles fired at it from within 20km by a Mach 2 aircraft.
@@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs Says who? "Official sources"?! LOL!
C O P E
@2:25 onwards "...the only time they [USA] violated Swedish air space........but it was due to an emergency so it's quite alright." Just the way he said it 😂😂😂
Yeah so what? The Americans were and are our friends and it was an emergency. Of course it's quite alright then. It's another thing if an enemy does it just for provocation.
No he said that the only time this kind of plane violated Swedish air space. Swedish air space have been violated numerous of times by nato and US
The story of the Blackbird emergency over Sweden is actually quite fascinating in itself. Google it up, really worthwhile reading.
@@zilfversurfer2157 The subject was SR-71. The only time an SR-71 violated Swedish space.
@@skunkjobb vi var neutrala under kriget! Om en ryss eller amerikan kränkte vårt luftrum gjorde ingen skillnad! De har inget rätt att göra det! Men detta var som sagt ett nödfall och därför var det okej.
I’m sure enemy forces acquired missile lock on the SR-71 many times...but what good did it do?
I read an article in air & space magazine about the sr-71 which encounters many missile locks during their secret flights, but actual fired missiles were either insufficient via fuel or speed to be successful. Viggen pilot--keep dreaming.
@Deus Vult good at maneuvering? do you know how big a distance it needs for sr-71 just to do a 180 turn? it's not made for maneuverabilty--it doesn't need to. it simply outruns missiles. the missiles will burn all their fuel climbing up and will not have enough left to maintain the speed needed to catch a blackbird.
Does it really matter getting a missile lock when you're usually flying an F-5?
Swedish airforce were rather puzzled by how the warzaw pact (mostly east german) air force approached the planes, doing a lock on from behind the SR-71. Swedish air force considered the only possible chance of getting a sucessful hit to be from a collision heading, seeing as the plane flew faster than the missiles. As maneouverability at those speeds and altitude is rather low, it's not an impossible prospect, though still unlikely to be a good hit. Probably one of the most effective options - and Viggen pilots were observed drifting ballistic to the blackbird's altitude after suffering engine flame-out trying to get a zoom on them.
It prevented the SR 71 from actually fulfilling it's original design brief of overflying the soviet union and gain intelligence, All it could do was approach the border and leave again. the arrival of the MIG 31 more or less retired it.
The reason that the SR-71 was operating at a less than ideal speed is because of the tight confines in the Baltic area. At speed the SR-71 could not make the required turns and stay on the "black line", resulting in overflying forbidden territory, a big no-no. At speed the turning radius of an SR-71 is 180 NM, so the flight plan was programmed for a speed of 2.2 to 2.8 Mach.
I understand that I'm a year late on this but these comments man.. He clearly states that the Blackbird followed a civilian route so they knew beforehand when it would come. Even then they had to come up with a special attack pattern just to get a lock on the damn thing... If anything it shows how impressive the Blackbird was and this video doesn't discredit it in any way at all.
CLARIFICATIONS:
* One needs to actually TURN ON the English subtitles. Starts at 0:05.
* The incident with the SR71 with engine failure was a separate incident and has nothing to do with the other contacts Thorbjörn speaks of.
* The Sky-flash missile has a top speed of mach 4. A hit was very unlikely, but plausible, in theory.
* I uploaded this because I love aircraft of all kinds and military history. I wanted to share this story beyond Sweden (the producers of the show didn't add eng subs.)
* My channel is not monetised.
* Calling me a "fucking cunt asshole" in private mail for sharing this is an interesting and pretty unreasonable reaction.
You know what, this is great that you uploaded cheers!
yeah, but it's soooooooo American. . . . . .
Elestro Air-soft 😂 Great retort to your abuser mate 👏
I think this stuff is interesting as hell! Haters need to settle down. Any fighter pilot worth being called that would have done the same!
True, it's a nice story. Just saying, the story makes it sound as if this guy could have easily shot down the Blackbird. *Many* tried, many *failed.*
There were over 1,000 recorded attempts to shoot it down. Not a single one managed to do so. Regardless of this pilot getting a lock, that missile would have fell short.
The amount of ground that it would need to cover in order to catch the Blackbird, while the Blackbird is traveling just under the missile's top speed at mach 3.2, would be greater than the missile's fuel capacity, and therefore, range. Which is why it was *never* shot down during any of its missions.
Cool story, but just saying, every one of those 1000+ *actual* attempts to shoot it down, started with lock-ons. None succeeded.
Many commenters are eager to point out that acquiring a missile lock on the SR-71 was a commonplace event. In fact the Viggen is the only aircraft ever to do so.
Of course, the Viggen couldn't have reached the required height and airspeed if it had carried missiles, and they wouldn't have caught the Blackbirds if they had wanted to evade, or if the Blackbirds hadn't been following a known route (the "Baltic Express"). This was just an exercise. A demanding exercise, but without practical implications.
BTW, USA actually decorated some Viggen pilots for assisting a Blackbird with engine trouble, possibly the same that is mentioned in the video. Since they were losing altitude and speed, Soviet interceptors were scrambled to take a closer look. Two pairs of Viggens showed up and blocked the Soviets' approach.
better be close, the blackbird can just walk away from missiles.
@@iatsd Its all subjective. Range at where the missile is fired speed of black bird all that.
@@iatsd And somewhat equal altitude.
@@iatsd Virtually impossible. Enemy aircraft have to be airborne to intercept. Nothing can scramble fast enough.
@@iatsd thats why i said virtually you have to be pretty lucky to get all the variables lined up .
iatsd it never has been though
Don't know what the english subtitltes are but you Americans really don't understand what he's saying in the video. This wasn't live missiles. The SR-71 flew the same route over and over and not at max speed. Even if it flew at max flight speed the Viggen robots had a flight speed of Mach 4. This wasn't ANY type of aggression. "Yeah the Viggen could never have shot down the Blacbird." Of course not and that's not what they were doing, they were just training at high altitude manouvering since they had the opportunity, the Blackbird flew the same route at the same time so they knew exactly where it would be. But they DID lock against the Blacbird's jamming systems and successfully fired fictious missiles. The pilots of the Blackbird would've also known this so this was as much training for them as the Swedish pilots.
The way I heard it from a source close to the incident was that the Swedes had figured out the timing of when the Sr71 would be coming over. They stood the Viggen on its tail and got high enough that when they turned on the Viggen's radar, there the Sr71 was. The lock lasted for about one second before the Viggen's radar screen went all snowy.
Sounds very credible
That British missile had a max speed of mach 4 but the missile would have to climb to intercept so would close slower. The Viggen pilots were not in pressure suits so they are, best case, launching at mach 2 at 50,000 ft. The SR-71 cruised at 82,000 ft at mach 3.2. So the Viggen is 5 miles below the SR-71. Just getting within the missiles 28 mile range would be quite a feat but it seems unlikely that the missile would get to the target before exhausting its fuel.
I wondered the same thing watching the video. OP commented above that the SR-71 was only running on one engine.
The missile burn time is quite short at most around 5-12 seconds. Afterward it will rely on kinetic energy to glide onto the target. Still, very little chance for such impact to happen
@Cancer McAids On the contrary, the missile needs to do *far* more work to actually hit a target when fired head-on.
Yeah, I figured the same thing, no matter what angle the missile was coming from.
@William Strickland The video said the SR71 was only cruising at mach 2.2
If you really look into the feasibility of missiles taking down the Blackbird, you'll wind up discovering some pretty insane math on it. It's not that the Blackbird was just insanely fast and able to outrun missiles, it's that it's incredible speed (we're talking entire MILES per second) made it so that simple maneuvers such as banking even slightly to the left or right would mean relocating the plane miles in a different direction from where the missile would now have to be. So it wasn't so much speed, but geometry and distance. Like if a car is going 100mph down a highway, you've got a good chance at intercepting him because you know where he is... but if he takes an exit onto another highway while maintaining his speed, now you're busting your ass trying to change where you are to keep him in your sights. With the Blackbird we're not talking 100mph, we're talking over Mach 3.5 (they won't even tell us the true number still) and we're not talking exits onto other highways, we're talking about entire COUNTRIES being flown over in a matter of mere minutes or even seconds. The SR-71 was an absolute monster.
Pilots have said that while cruising at Mach 3.1-3.2, when missiles were fired at them, they had plenty of excess thrust and saw some crazy Mach numbers.
If you do the math on the trans-Atlantic world speed record flight, the average speed, not the max, was Mach 3.8.
And that plane is an antiquated model. 🤣
TOTAL MYTH!
The SR71 had a HORRIBLE turning radius. It couldn't pull Gs to save its life. It's only saving grace was altitude and speed which it used to great affect against SURFACE TO AIR MISSILES.
When it came to combating A2A missiles it was a complete dud, like it's been proven in this video. It wasn't just the Swedes who intercepted the SR71 the Soviets also did it with regularity while the Swedes watched.
@@pacus123 Regardless if it's A2A or SAM's, you're glossing over the fact that it's still the same geometry problem. There's a huge difference between obtaining radar lock... and a missile actually being fired and having to contend with traveling distance to an aircraft that is moving in excess of 2500mph and able to make simple course corrections that relocate it literal miles in a different direction within seconds.
@@pacus123 Yeah and at mach 3.5 a course correction of 5 degrees means the missile has to relocate it's intercept course by tens or even hundereds of kilometres. The thing doesn't need to turn the missile will never get close unless fired head on.
The top speed of the SR-71 is unknown to anyone except those who flew them and those who were directly involved with the aircraft. The record that it set before its retirement is not anywhere close to its capability.
That's also because EAm-jet can produce more power the faster the plane flies. So similar to a MiG-21 that could accelerate until the wings couldn't handle the deag anymore.
So you don't get a real max speed - it's a question how far you dare to push it before you have abused some design parameter too far.
If the top speed is unknown, how do you know that the record isn't close to its capability?
Altho it was limited by the intakes, unless these were actually redesigned and adjusted in the planes lifecycle
@@sabyegrp Oh no, it's widely known US carriers can do 36 knots at least in calm seas.
@@sabyegrp Shhh...don't want the Russians and more importantly the Chinese to hear.
The comments make me laugh. All the crap about it only happened because of this, that and the other. Just enjoy the damn story.
(The pilot even said they were expecting the fly over. They weren't actually going to shoot it down, they were just treating it an an exercise)
The're Americans, they are programmed to tell everyone how much better their shit is.
@@FairladyS130 - We don't have to tell about it. Just watch.
@@algrayson8965 yeah all im seeing is trillions of dollars in debt and a fuck ton of poverty.
@@algrayson8965 ...Gripen F...
Maury Rosenberg talks of how the Viggens practiced this all the time basically. He himself experienced them popping up to 60k feet then falling off.
The Russians had computed intercepts around Vladivostok, but they were extremely difficult to pull off.
it was never about harming the plane, we all knew blackbird was a monster of a plane, to be able to get a lock on it with a normal jet fighter was the fun of the game couse it was nigh impossible
Interesting! My late grandfather, Vic Horton, flew the NASA YF-12 and SR-71 Blackbirds out of Edwards AFB (in fact, much of the SR-71 footage in this video is his plane). No wonder he was always impressed with the Viggen! Always spoke highly of it. That being said, even if they did get a missile lock, actually hitting it is another matter entirely. The Libyans actually tried with one of the Air Force birds in the 80s; the crew went to full afterburners and literally outran the missile!
Awesome.
I was stationed at Beale AFB in the 70s and never saw sr 71 pilots wear a standard flight suit, but an orange space suit.
So wasting my time chasing it in my old SAAB 96 or even my Honda Blackbird !!!
I have beaten Blackbirds with me ole '88 zx-10. So yes I have seen a Kawasaki beat a Blackbird, lol.
@@raynic1173 yes but the SR71 Blackbird model will see anything off !!!
Fun fact: At the time the Saab Ja-37 Viggen was one of the best fighters in the world, if not the best. The West German fighters would regularly try and turn fight our J1-37s but after the first circle the Viggen was almost always on its tail. The German fighters were a lot heavier than the Viggen and thus was not as maneuverable.
viggen was good but u got a lot of ur "facts" wrong
Were these Phantoms?
@@johnnydoe7616 Likely. Fighters used by West Germany were, in chronological order, the F-86, F-104, F-4, a couple of Mig-29 they inherited from East German forces, and the Eurofighter Typhoon.
@@DevSolar Werent the Fighter Tornados in service with the West german air force by this time aswell?
@@fishyfish6050 No. The Tornado ADV was employed by the RAF only. The Luftwaffe used the ground attack, recon, and ECR variants.
Hans Svenska (His Swedish) is so clear! A joy to listen. ...and a typical Swede the way he portrays things! Humble and accurate.
There was Russians that obtain a radar lock but the s71 crew just kept on out running the Missile
I didn't know gordon ramsey was a fighter pilot
Harharhar I laughed out loud at that!
Lmao!
Frizky Destrian Galistan best comment! Nothing close
That blackbird is RAAAW!
😊😊😊😊
Key word *acquired*
This was not a viable threat to the blackbird. The pilots had almost no ecm because they didn't need it. Their ecm is the throttle. It probably landed at RAF Mildenhall before this Viggen figured out what happened, mission accomplished. Let's not forget that to this day, it's top speed is classified. SR Pilots say Mach 3.2 was just above the middle of the throttle, and that it could go "a whole lot faster" if it was necessary, but they aren't allowed to comment on its top speed or whether they had opener her up to full mil throttle. It definitely became an issue when the Russians developed Mig 25 and Mig 31. Both had top speeds of Mach 3.2+. Not one caught up with or intercepted an SR-71, and the sr-71 can outrun and evade missles from the ground and the sky. This is just a cool story, not something that would ever be considered an actual threat to sled drivers. Santa has as good a chance with his reindeer as this Viggen does of catching up to an sr-71.
"Almost no ecm" would include the heavy radar jamming... which the Viggen penetrated using coordinated active radar systems.
This interception was routine because the SR71's route was, including lower speed and altitude than its maximum. A remarkable demonstration and exercise, not a conflict.
The Viggen was also capable of operating beyond public parameters, and did so in this case.
Great Video! Love it!
If the blackbird is just puttering along the commercial route and you know where it is then you can set up a lock. Different story when it transitions to hostile airspace profile.
Lol “puttering along” dude it’s still going mach 2.2
Viggen 💕
A missle lock only means your missle has enough to fire. It does not guarantee a hit when it is fired. The soviets have fired on the SR 71 before and each of those missles had a lock before they were fired. The fact is if whatever your shooting at is faster than the missle or bullets being shot then they arent going to hit no matter what. I suppose you could try and head it off but a simple turn to avoid defeats that. The SR 71 is the fastest air breathing aircraft ever made. Its faster than all air to air missiles and faster than bullets or cannon shells. The speed records it set in retirement were still not its maximum speeds and despite military denials the SR 71 overflew the Soviet Union many times. They used to fly on ovetflight flights from kadena air force base in okinawa japan regularly and this was a open secret during those times. Before those flights flocks of japanese with cameras, and prob spies for the USSR as well, would gather at the fence at the end of the SR 71s runway and take pictures of it during its brief appearances during its takeoff roll--ot had its own hanger on its own runway. Ot would land and roll right in with doors closeing right behind it. A roundabout would turn it around in its hangar and it would even start engines before doors rolled open and then immediatly begin its takeoff roll. I dont know of any other aircraft who had its own everything like that. A wonderful aircraft.
But again missile lock means nothing.
The SR-71 has a official top speed of Mach 3.3. The skyflash missile has a top speed of Mach 4. That is numbers from Wikipedia. I highly doubt that a SR-71 could outmanoeuvre a Skyflash IF it's fired from somewhat equal level. If not, any missile consumes energy going up hill and that results in no kill.
*official
I think you just gut-punched yourself.
@@goofyleo3869 don't really get what you're trying to say but if it makes you feel better so be it.
@@goofyleo3869 did you know that it's possible to get a missile to see and lock the space shuttle? Not that hard actually since its a nice hot target with a perfectly cold background all around it. That's how the idea a anti sat missile fired from a F 15E at the apex of an all out climb on afterburner could actually kill a satellite in low earth orbit. Of course that missile is HUGE with most being its solid fuel. Do you think a sidewinder or AMRAAM could kill the space shuttle? After all it can lock it up. Nevermind it's way out of its range or far faster than the missile could ever be, also two of the problems encountered with the SR 71 traveling at the edge of space to the degree initial descent actually really increases its temp just like reentry does, and for the same reasons, just a far shorter duration. And no I'm not saying it's in space, just at the very edge, before that's sent back to me.
Again locking a target is not a kill. Locking a target only means anything in fact when its within the missiles parameters and nothing before. After all many a sidewinder has locked up the sun and goes chaseing after it missing the target initially locked up and intended. To my knowledge not a single sidewinder has managed to kill the sun, despite the solid target lock. I'll let you know if I hear of one bit if the sun suddenly goes dark maybe that's what happened.
@@TheErilaz No one in this comment section realizes this scenario happened several times and it didn't work. Syrian Mig-25a overflow Israel several times and IAF set up intercept shots flying ahead of the Mig-25 and shoot their Sparrows at maximum altitude and never got a hit on the Syrian Mig-25s as the Sparrows struggled to reach 100,000ft. Children on the internet dont bother to research how air to air missiles work. Altitude means everything.
Neat story. Kinda like a fishing story, only with jets.
I would have done the very same thing if I were a Swedish pilot or were commanding the Swedish Defense forces. It's harmless practice on a NATO aircraft. As an American engineer I would have appreciated the practice, looked into countermeasures, had them ready for the Soviets.
We Americans and the Soviets have had thousands of nuclear warheads pointed at each other. This is a serious "weapons lock" that both sides have endured for decades. The Swedes would have had to live with the fallout. Given that nuclear standoff griping about Sweden intercepting and weapons locking an SR71 is pretty minor.
Something else to consider - Sweden was neutral. Intercepting and weapons locking US airplanes helped to preserve Sweden's neutrality and helped to preserve Swedish self respect.
Some valid points there. Though "neutral" is the official term, we considered the Soviet union to be our main threat and we had their invasion of Finland fresh in our minds. When an SR71 had engine failures we helped it and guided it through our air-space with Soviet fighters in pursuit to safe air-space. We value our independence as a nation, but if we had to choose, we're with the U.S. all the way.
Riktiga män! 👍🏻
A fantastic book on the subject with the best stories is Brian Shuls "Sled Driver". Worth every penny, even at its market price.
In that book he said that many times the USSR aquired a radar lock on them and fired missiles. Once a telephone sized object went sailing upward near them.
But missile lock does not mean anything to an SR-71. Brian states that the typical evasive menouver was to simply accelerate.
The jet cruised above Mach 3.0 in low burner, and the pilot simply needed to advance the throttles. Going faster had the side effect of flying higher, and getting better fuel economy when above Mach 3.2+.
Missiles cannot turn as well at altitude as a jet, because they don't have wings and are going much faster. Therefore they must turn at a higher G load than the airplane and there is too thin of air to support a missile for turning. An SR-71 simply banks into a turn once the missile has had time to start heading for the future location it calculates the SR-71 to be at, then the SR pilot turns slightly and punches the throttle. His RSO then jams the missiles radar for good measure.
blackbird to sweden was like american muscle cars were to sweden, we admire it and respect it, to be able to get a lock on the plane was just proud moment for swedishh airforce becouse blackbird was legendary. sweden have pretty much always been fantasized by america, so please dont take it the wrong way, this is a proud moment for ous in sweden, when our own tiny country can make a jetfighter that is able to get a lock on the mighty american blackbird.
Not quite the whole story, the Blackbird was using a regular route, so they knew where it would be and when, they used Ground based radars to track it and relay info to the Viggen which was waiting along it's flightpath, having to travel nearly 10 miles just to reach the same altitude, agsinst an aircraft travelling at mach 3, any Missile fired from thr Viggen, would have ran out of energy long before getting anywhere near the Blackbird, he also forgot to mention how many times they tried it before it worked.
The Viggen cost approx $2m, and the SR17 cost 17 times more. It is like a Dodge Demon ($84k) getting trumped by a car that costs a third of a Kia Soul ($17.5k). Even if it only happened once for every 17 times the swedes tried it, it is still a huge win.
@@pjaenator Hardly a win, they knew when and where the Blackbird would be , as it was a regular flight path and placed the fighter in it's flight path.
@Shaun Mclaren Butthurt about what?
@Shaun Mclaren, more like factual American.
Lee Painter
They could have shot head on or from a crossing angle...very few fighters could climb that high and fast to have a chance at the SR-71
who else read the title as "retired vegan pilot?"
I thought it was Viggo Mortensen.
I don’t think having a lot of gas in one’s stomach is good in high attitude, hehehehe.
Yeah, that made me look twice. 😀
Well if that would have alot more of the Vegan in it, it would have said, Vegan pilot while being vegan flying as a vegan got a lock while being vegan on the SR71
hahahaha i didnt Think about that
Just aquring missile lock dose not mean it can shot down plane. Pilot will definitely increase speed and attitude to out run missile with other countermeasures.
Acceleration takes time. You can’t just go from Mach 2.2 to 3.5 instantly (Although they were damn quick.) and the Skyflash missiles he was talking about had a top speed of Mach 4. The major countermeasure on the SR71 was speed and you could pretty much only do that in a straight line without killing yourself.
@@mikhailgorbachev3721
I agreed. Speed is one main counter measure and I am sure there will be other like radio jammers which will be used. Also we have to consider the altitude and range of missile. SR 71 flys at very high altitude and even missile fired from closest point I am sure at speed of Mach 3 , SR 71 will go out of range .
@@mikhailgorbachev3721 - Published descriptions are that going to full afterburner power in the SR-71 was more like an ejection seat only horizontally. The crew were "crushed" against their seat backs.
@@mikhailgorbachev3721 No one in this comment section realizes this scenario happened several times and it didn't work. Syrian Mig-25a overflow Israel several times and IAF set up intercept shots flying ahead of the Mig-25 and shoot their Sparrows at maximum altitude and never got a hit on the Syrian Mig-25s as the Sparrows struggled to reach 100,000ft. Children on the internet dont bother to research how air to air missiles work. Altitude means everything.
In my country it was 1986/7 had pilot LOCK ON the SR-71 and middle range missile was "HOT" It was on WEST GERMANY - Czechoslovakia border. Pilot flow from Česke Budějovice airbase and plane was Mig-23ML. Ground center
reported don't shoot don't shoot! This story is trouth and not fake for all !
Sounds nice, but he did not have a missile that could catch the Blackbird.
Yes he did. He had the skyflash missile which can do Mach 4. That plus the speed of the Viggen gives a total effective velocity of Mach 6. No hope in hell that SR71 gonna have escaping!
@@pacus123 Thats not how missiles work
@@pacus123 - A missile doesn't add its speed to that of its launch platform (aircraft). A missile is a self-propelled aircraft itself. A cannon shell does but unless it's rocket boosted its speed drops off rapidly due to aerodynamic drag.
Relax. pacus123 is safe in his mother's basement and can't hurt anyone during 'nap-time'. 😄
@@pacus123 No one in this comment section realizes this scenario happened several times and it didn't work. Syrian Mig-25a overflow Israel several times and IAF set up intercept shots flying ahead of the Mig-25 and shoot their Sparrows at maximum altitude and never got a hit on the Syrian Mig-25s as the Sparrows struggled to reach 100,000ft. Children on the internet dont bother to research how air to air missiles work. Altitude means everything.
The U.S. Air Force also used the same patterns when bombing North Vietnam using B-52s.
They called it "Menus"....same Menu, different day!
That was why the Viet Minh and Viet Cong always knew when and where the bombing took place. So they went underground or hid under the thick canopy of the Ho Chi Minh trail to transport weapons and ammunition to strike back!
Gets lock, fires missile, SR-71 is already out of range.
Not one black bird has ever been lost to AA.
@@iatsd Regardless of missile max velocity, the Skyflash would more likely run out of fuel before it made an intercept. If the Viggen accelerates to mach 2, simultaneously climbs to 55,000 ft and fires, that missile still has to accelerate and close the distance. Say it reaches max range at max velocity of mach 6 (mach 4 + the Viggen's mach 2). The SR-71 flies at 80,000 ft (24,384 m) when traveling at mach 3+. That is 25 miles (40 km) higher than 55,000 ft (16,764 m). The Skyflash has a 28 mile (45 km) range. If the SR-71 is close, say 5 miles ahead and are already scrambling away after the crew gets a warning they've been painted by a bogey then there will be no intercept. The Skyflash will burn out its fuel and fall to earth. Remember missiles still have to accelerate, they don't fly off the rail immediately at it's max speed after being launched. Not to mention since the Skyflash is radar guided then it could be succeptable to the SR-71's own countermeasures.
@@iatsd As if real world application of how an actual intercept alludes you idiot. What? You don't think the SR-71 has it's own radar and radar warning and the crew would already be alerted they are radar painted which will result in an immediate responsive evasive action before a missile is even fired? This is how scenerios work in thecreal world. Stop with the fantasy that a missile will make a successful interception has soon as it's fired because it so happens to be faster.
@@iatsd it means that this guy is blowing smoke. It's a non discussion.
@@iatsd I never stated the SR-71 has an air intercept radar at all. However the YF-12 had an ASG-18 Fire and Control radar that had a 200-300 mile range. The SR-71 has DEF system suites that are still highly classified. It's ECM is said to be able to jam active radar both on the ground and directed at aircraft. It also records the radar signature as another intelligence gathering feature. Over 1000 missiles have been fired at the SR-71up to the late 1980s and all have failed. That includes every S-200 variant which also flies at mach 4 up at that time period from 1967-1990. The Blackbird's speed, high altitude flight, low radar signature, and countermeasures ensured it's success to have always extricate itself out of danger with distance. The Soviets tried and failed to shoot down a Blackbird having employing a strategy of two Mig-25s, one in front and another at a lower altitude but the MiG-25's own computers were not sophisticated and fast enough to calculate a lock on closing speed due to the SR-71's own high speed and altitude according to Soviet defector and former MiG-25 pilot Viktor Belenko. Also because the air is very thin at higher altitudes (+70,000 ft) it would render nearly any air-to-air missile to be unmaneuverable and useless against a specialized high speed & altitude aircraft such as the Blackbird or MiG-25 that can always maneuver to escape.
This bird wasn't meant to be stealth, only high altitude and extremely fast moving from enemy fire.
Eastern Spy so??? This was a show of the speed and high attitude tactic would Get old and useless because of better missiles and SAM
Can you imagine sitting inside the cockpit of the SR 71 then looking outside the window at 80,000 ft while at 2265mph?
The Viggen pilot waving at you
I really wish you hadn't made a practice of obtaining missile lock everytime we flew over. The goddamned buzzer that alerts us cant be shut off and got really fucking annoying after awhile....
I suspect the SR71 did not turn on it’s full jamming capabilities.
The SR-71's "jammer" was the same lever as the throttle......
The more important question to be directed to those who really knew is why induring the hassle of the Blackbird had sattelites been there and doing the job?
@Johnston Steiner To simplify matters: the circumference of the earth is about 40000 km and the typical spy satellite is 200 to 800 km high. Assuming that one satellite could cover a strip of land 100 km wide beneath it, then for an unoptimised positioning of the satellites you need only about 100 sattelites to spy on the entire globe avoiding all the technical and military problems associated with planes like the black bird.
So, I guess the point is the Sr-71 flew lower and slower over Sweden so it could technically have been hit?
The Russians would get the lock too. I wonder if the Swedish missiles can reach the sr71
Sweden wouldn't have actually engaged the plane, just let them know they were 'painted' w radar to show they were seen. The SR-71 wasn't invisible, just low observable, just like the B-2 isn't invisible but very low observable.
The SR71 May have had jamming facilities, chaff it did not use.
@@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs a) jamming makes you show up like a christmas tree on radar, not really smart when you can just outrun missiles. b) chaff are deployed after launch signal is received, they're just bundles of reflective metal strips that confuse the radar beam.
Galf506 the secret is to get the chaff to bloom at the right point. Chaff, specular reflection from the chaff, noise jamming, seductive jamming (false targets), signals modulated to break a lock even decoys. I’d say the SR71 didn’t throw anything much back. The Swedish radar was a sophisticated monopulse so harder to break a lock. Bluring the return itself enough to reduce accuracy of the sky flash missile would itself be worthwhile.
The french did that too with Mirage III. It happened more than you would think.
@@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs I have heard that there were some SR71 attempts at jamming and that they all failed. The Swedish radar system shared target data between units. So as long as one single airplane or ground station had your position, everyone had your position.
The speed was the best defense and making a missile hit required some excellent timing of maneuvers. It's known that a (theoretically) working attack pattern was found and practiced but no one can say for sure how it really would have worked out in the end.
According to Russian Viktor Belenko in his book "MiG pilot", the Russians also acquiring missile locks on the SR71 Blackbird and fired air to air missiles at it, only to watch as the SR71 outrun their missiles.
Thats hardly truth. SR-71 couldnt outrun their missiles. Soviets had from deep seventies R-40s in versions with speeds well above M3 and able to engage SR-71. Warsaw pact Migs-23s had plenty of missile locks of Blackbirds with their R-23s. Also soviets SAMs were able to shot down Blackbird even from S-75 version M2, which stepped into service in 1969.
@@Lea_Kaderova; Try reading the book 'MiG Pilot' by Viktor Ivanovich Belenko. He was a pilot of a MiG-25 in the Soviet Far East, and he said his unit fired an air to air missile at an SR71, and the Blackbird simply out ran it. While I wasn't there at the time, Belenko was, and I see no reason for him to lie.
@@oldgysgt This doesnt giving sense to me. Belenko acted as flight instructor in higher military aviation school in Armavir and in Stavropol. During this part of his carrier he wasnt in combat ready squadrons. To the Far East he was reassigned in 1975. But SR-71s didnt conducted missions (Black Shield/Oxcart programm) in East Asia region at least 6-7 years in that time (last mission in Black Shield was in 1968) and Kadena AFB in Japan lost it status of SR-71 detachment air base in august 1974. Moreover their flight paths were way too far from Primorie (its 2000 km, thats almost 2,3x more than combat radius of Mig-25P even with external fuel tanks). I dont believe Belenko experienced such event as shoting AA missile on SR-71. Maybe he heard some stories when he was in aviation and transformed them into his book to make it more juicy.
@@Lea_Kaderova; Lieutenant Belenko was a pilot with the 513th Fighter Regiment, 11th Air Army, Soviet Air Defence Forces based in Chuguyevka, Primorsky Krai. You might not believe Belenko was assigned to a to an operational unit, but he believes he was, (and I tend to believe him). As for the SR71 missions in east Asia; these missions were flown under CIA command, and the CIA has never made their flight operations public. So I doubt if you know what spy flights were flown and when they were flown. Try reading Belenko's book before speculating on its accuracy.
@@oldgysgt I meant he wasnt in combat ready squadrons before 1975, when he was stationed in Armavir and Stavropol as flight instructor at schools. Maybe my english isnt good, so it wasnt clear. Of course, when he was in Primorie, he was in combat ready squadrons, but my point is that main base for SR-71s operations in East Asia region ceased to be eligible for SR-71s few months before Belenko came to Primorie and mainly, all what is known about operations of SR-71s/A12s in that region (and its not much secretive now, more than 50 years after) suggests, that it simply doesnt happend. Paradoxically Belenko had better chance to step in contact with SR-71 during his times on Kavkaz, when he flight about 500 km from flight routes of SR-71s which really fly those sorties in that time, then in Far East where he was 2000+ km away and 6 years late. So when I resume it, soviet pilots wouldnt launching missiles on SR-71 in international airspace; SR-71s were not flight into USSR airspace; missions of SR-71s/A12s ended 7 years before Belenko came to Chuguyevka and their operation areas were more than 2000 km from each other.
Im too busy/lazy to search and read his book and also I dont see reason to do it. I know its massive hype about SR-71 in US, but just try to look at it objectively. It was awsome airplane and his designers had to be geniuses. Its engines are masterpiece even today same as some aspects of its construction, but from 32 produced was 12 lost in accidents (thats 37,5% of fleet!!) and more they couldnt made because soviets refused to sell them more titan alloys. It had huuge mission ready time (at first 21 days between mission order and action, lately they pushed it to 15 days). Even in Vietnam, were USSR in sixties delivered older versions of S-75/75M, they had troubles. One A-12 was almost downed over Hanoi (missile detonated 180-220 m behind wing and caused light damage), since then, they didnt flight there almost 6 months. With deliveries of improved versions S-75M2 with missiles V-759 (with horizontal speed of target above 3700 km/h) to Vietnam in 1968, missions of SR-71s over Vietnam ended and Black shield programm was canceled (last flight was in 1968). It was option for recon of states with low grade AA systems, but in case of USSR, they had reliable abilities to shot down SR-71 from second half of sixties with SAMs and from early seventies also in AA missiles.
As an American..good job North Man
Finally someone that is a little bit thankful
During the many times the SR-71 was fired upon, the only evasive action necessary was to simply accelerate. During its years of service, none were shot down.
a bit hard to run away when the fighter got a lock on you and is ahead of u and in firing range if that pilot would have shoot the sr-71 would have gone down
Some of the footage shows the YF-12. Very cool.
Eng subtitles? Is there a switch I'm not hitting?
I believe an English Electric Lightning caught up to an SR71, or maybe it was a U2.
What's the top speed of lightning 1500 mph that's about half speed of a sr71 had to be a u2 there not that fast
@@jasons44 I saw that documentary a few weeks ago. I believe it was a U2. The interesting feet was that the Lightning got up that high. I believe it was 60,000 ft.
Oh wow, they could lock on, so could MiG-31 and other planes, locking on the SR-71 wasnt the problem, the problem was the SR-71 would outrun anything they shot at it.
Sky-Flash missiles run at Mach 4, he'd have to be going pretty much full speed straight forward to outrun it.
@@WilliamA- Brian Shul says he hit Mach 3.5 over the Med, running from a Libyan fired SAM, and the SR 71 was still accelerating when he pulled the throttle back. So yes, the SR 71 likely could have out run a Mach 4 SAM if it had to.
@@@WilliamA- The Skyflash's range was just 30 miles. an SR-71 covered that in a matter of seconds, A mach 2 Viggen can't close the distance
The MIG-31 and R-33 could intercept the SR-71 but like the Viggen , it still had to get close enough
Mach 4 only occurs shortly after launch. Then the missile deacceleates down to its terminal velocity, somewhere near mach 2
P Anderson I guess it’s pointless even arguing about this since we never will know for sure. Cheers mate
Before the flamewars get out of control, read what the man was saying.
He locked on with a skyflash but imagined it with fictitious missiles.
The skyflash at the time had seekers and range similar to an AIM7 Sparrow (indeed that's what it was based on) which means there was no way it was going to kill the SR-71 unless it did a max burn to altitude and just, lob the missile, and even that had practically no shot at success .
The skyflash had very limited range.
This was only possible to achieve by countries like Sweden or Norway, which knew where it was coming from and where it was going (straight from UK to USSR, skirting their countries).
They are either ascending or descending when they pass these countries. Their flight characteristics are well known to them, as the pilot mentions at the beginning of the video.
If the Blackbird was flying to the Soviet Union with the same performance as it did inside the Soviet Union, the Viggins would have about the same chance of shooting it down as the Mig-21 or 23 would have.
No one in this comment section realizes this scenario happened several times and it didn't work. Syrian Mig-25a overflow Israel several times and IAF set up intercept shots flying ahead of the Mig-25 and shoot their Sparrows at maximum altitude and never got a hit on the Syrian Mig-25s as the Sparrows struggled to reach 100,000ft. Children on the internet dont bother to research how air to air missiles work. Altitude means everything.
It was not uncommon for "missile lock" on a SR-71.The Libyans and Israelies did it after the US had bombed Khadafi's compound during the Reagan Administration and the SR-71 was sent to do an overflight to assess the damage. Having missile lock didn't make a difference. Over 2000 missiles were fired at the SR-71 during it's service career, none of them ever hit.
True, but SAMs can lock on super easy, getting a A-A lock on is harder.
A British Royal Airforce pilot did this twice in the English Electric Lightning. First was a planned interception and second time was just a case of sit on your tail and light up the afterburners. But cases he would have been in a good position to fire his missiles.
Best attempted shoot down of the Blackbird was some guy blasting away with a couple of 20mm AA guns on the back of a truck. He obviously did not get the memo about the SR71 being faster then a speeding bullet.
How and when did he do that. The blackbird has not flown for 25 years.
January 1986 they recorded three successful intercepts (according to aviation geek club). Notably they approached head on at those intercepts.
yeah the swedish subtitles on swedish video is really helping me out here on understanding the video
There is the youtube caption function too.
@@Tarik360 dunno there is now but literally 18 hours ago it was glitchibg on mobile or im blind
@@tinokap it happens
ur so smart bro
@@tinokap
It might help if some portion were in English.
Turn on subtitles
@@ytbabbler Thanks. I tried that earlier and it didn't work, but now it does.
amazing story
hypothetically even if he would have fired would the missile actually reach the target ?
Well the Swedish plane wasn't behind the SR-71, it was comming from the front.
Even with that remember that +1000 missiles were launched at it and no one ever hit. You may were able to lock on it, but shooting it down was way more than just that.
Aquired missle lock without bringing down the target is akin to looking through the rifle scope at the huge 20 point buck and not pulling the trigger! Makes a great story and memory but that's about all.
Amazing plane
1960s technology. Over 50 years ago.
So much for stealth and mach 3 perhaps.
Although maybe they changed speed and altitude over russia
The SR-71 often evaded the nastiest and most effective SAMs in the world. It also outpaced the modified MIG-25 Foxbat which was capable of nearly Mach 3.2 in short stints (before the engines were ruined).
Brian Shul in his most excellent book stated that the normal procedure for an SR-71 pilot to evade a missile, was to simply advance the throttles.
Any chance of English subtitles?
Yes, I've added some. Just turn them on. Starts at 0:07
click CC its there in english
The issue here isn't whether an SR71 could still out run a missile even if fired upon. The point is the American Command got lazy and predictable. Overconfident if you will. I would have relieved some officers of Command and that whole damn branch of the military would have been put on alert.
how would you outrun a missile that is coming from the front?
No pilot from the Royal Swedish Airforce tried to shoot at any US airplane. We consider the Eastern Sea, which you call the Baltic Sea, to be our own back yard and try to air police it the best we can. At the time Sweden were strictly neutral, haha, and of course it is our duty to identify and necessary take proper action against any airplane, no matter nationality. To show ourselves, our flag. This is our country.
If we could have downed a Blackbird, well, we will never know.
Please, focus instead on the story from this individual, one of those who trained daily to be among the first to risk his life for the rest of us.
Including the crew of the SR71 with enginefailor that past over Gotland and were protected by 4 JA37 Viggens in the 80-s from Soviet agression.
I aplogise for my english.
just imagine what we have now :)
The same things as every other country?
A president that suggests injecting disinfectant to fight coronavirus.
You mean like the Gotland class?
De brave man spreekt Engels , Nederlands , Duits en een beetje Zweeds .👍👍👍😁😁😁
No English subtitles....
You may have acquired a lock on SR71 but that plane goes alot faster than your missiles
Just means that the plane would meet the missiles that much faster since they were comming from infront of it.
No, the missile is faster. The problem isn't speed but fuel, distance and height.
Awesome stories
SR-71 can outrun those missles.
The SR-71 has a official top speed of Mach 3.3. The skyflash missile has a top speed of Mach 4. That is numbers from Wikipedia. I highly doubt that a SR-71 could outmanoeuvre a Skyflash IF it's fired from somewhat equal level.
@@TheErilaz By the time the missile could overtake the SR71, assuming a radar lock could be maintained which is doubtful. It would run out of fuel and fall helplessly to the ground.
@ - The SR-71 had up-to-date Electronic Counter-Measures, chaff, flares to confuse radar guidance and heatseekers.
@@TheErilaz No one in this comment section realizes this scenario happened several times and it didn't work. Syrian Mig-25a overflow Israel several times and IAF set up intercept shots flying ahead of the Mig-25 and shoot their Sparrows at maximum altitude and never got a hit on the Syrian Mig-25s as the Sparrows struggled to reach 100,000ft. Children on the internet dont bother to research how air to air missiles work. Altitude means everything.
Interesting but I doubt the missile would have got to target. It's moving too damn fast. If the Russian stuff could not get it, I'm sure sky flash would have failed to as well. Only missile that could probably have made the kill would have been the aim-54 Phoenix...
Lots of people got missile lock. Over 1000 missiles were fired at the SR-71, but none ever hit it.
Damn! If that figure was true, it was a fortune wasted chasing a mirage.
The SR -71 didn't fly at it's surface ceiling over friendly airspace in order to save fuel. It could have been possibly hit by a Viggen but it wasn't in danger either. Does that make sense?
@@johng669 This was at its surface ceiling and it wasn't over friendly airspace. It was over the Baltic Sea, bordering with the USSR.
Is it just me, or does he have more than a passing resemblance to Gordon Ramsey?
I'm sure he and the blackbird pilots had fun.
Needless to say, the Blackbird was idling when the saab was in the chase. If there really was a missile loc he let you get close enough. He knew you were friendly....
they are not chasing they are intercepting from the front/glancing front
The audio and subtitles are in the same language...wtf is the point of that?
enable english subs
Ever heard of deaf people?
@@perwestermark8920 oh u right
So, if they only violated Swedish airspace one time, what's changed in recent decades? Swedish airspace is now continually violated by others, generally the U.S.. Reference the RC-135 incident.
When the unarmed RC-135 was chased by Russian fighters and ducked in Swedish airspace to shake them off? Intercepts are a risky adventure. I never had one during a flight but they did happen.
The *SR-71* flights only violated Swedish airspace once. It has happened many times with other aircraft on other types of missions.
@@TheWabbitSeason That's the incident I was talking about. According to some reports, the RC-135 sought permission to cross over Gotland Island and the Swedes declined to give approval. The Rivet Joint still proceeded to violate Swedish airspace. So, it makes me wonder? Many questions come to mind. What kind if stunt did the RC-135 pull on the Russians to make their crew feel compelled to violate a neutral, or "neutral," nation's airspace, as opposed to following standard intercept protocols? Were the Russians out for blood, or what? Intercepts are normal. Why was this different? Are the Swedes really neutral, or do they just pretend to be? Why wasn't that RC-135 forced by JAS-39s to land at a Swedish air base, with the detention and questioning or interrogating of the RC-135 crew and examination of the aircraft to determine what exactly it was doing to cause it to opt to violate Swedish airspace, as opposed to undergoing a standard intercept? Many questions come to mind. I've read it reported that over 50 instances of the violation of Swedish airspace have occurred since 2009. I've not seen the statistics published on which nation(s) has/have been involved? I'd guess it isn't the Russians.
What is the point of this? It would be cool if they really shot a BlackBird but it would just punch it to mach 3.3
They approached head-on in the January 86 event, so that actually would be the wrong strategy. Engaging counter measures and turning course would be better.
The SR71 didn't have ram engines
The reheaters (UK term) or afterburners (US term) functioned as semi-ramjets.
As inefficient as ramjets are at low altitude at the SR-7S's cruising altitude of 80-85,000' they are more efficient than turbojets considering their size and weight.
The Concorde cruised on bypassing turbojets but size and weight was not as important a consideration as in the case of the Blackbird.
All of this technical information that though not secret was hard to find in the pre-internet era is readily available today.
@@algrayson8965 I apologize. I showed my ignorance. I only thought ramjets were used in the buzz bombs in WWII. But the SR71 Engines actually do have Bypass Gates that route incoming air around the compressor turbine during high speed because the compressor has more drag above a certain mach number. Then the engines do function as ramjets at the highest mach numbers.
When they get close flap that beaver tail and they cant deal with the wake
Well, first of all, the Blackbird wasn't trying to hide. Number 2, it could have flown at a height exceeding the Viggen's ceiling. Number 3, it would have been traveling over Mach 3, if it was on a covert mission. Number 4, assuming the Viggen could still get a missile lock, the Blackbird could have outrun them at over Mach 3. Number 5, that pilot needs to stop kidding himself he could have shot one down. Number 6, no Blackbirds were lost to enemy fire.
"Despite heavy jamming from the SR-71 .... The Viggen is the only aircraft to get an acknowledged radar lock on the SR-71." Source: Wikipedia (with references)
If I was american, having to qualify the statement "No aircraft has ever aquired missile lock on an SR-71" with an additional " - except Viggen", would leave my pride a bit dented. All your points seem to indicate that your pride was indeed dented. The game was never to shoot it down, the game was to get a missile lock. Viggen scored on that where no other aircraft did.
The pilot in the video doesnt brag, he simply describes how Viggen getting lock on Blackbird was a casual thing, making it an interesting point to talk about since no other aircraft could make that claim.
@@protonjinx that statement is somewhat meaningless. No aircraft is invisible to radar. And SR-71s repeated their flight path and profile near a neutral nation. And radar locks did occur as several authors claim SAM launches against SR-71s over North Korea and Libya. So quit now with your base level internet knowledge. And by the way..... this video is pointless and the Skyflash couldve never reached SR-71 Mig-25s at 100,000ft as the Israeli shot at Syrian Mig-25s overlying Israel on several occasions with their Sparrows at maximum altitude and the Sparrows struggled due to the altitude to get even close to its height. Few missiles are designed for that type of flight profiles and those are general strategic SAMs the size of ballistic missiles. Like S-300 for example. So Skyflash vs SR-71 at 100,000ft wouldn't work. S-300s are the size of ballistic missiles for a reason.
@@zeitgeistx5239 Your lack of reading comprehension is rather appaling. I specifically mention "the game was to get a missile lock" but your ego cant handle that and you rant and rave about SAMs (which are not AIR-TO-AIR) and firing missiles.
Awesome flex for the Swedish don't forget Blackbirds knew exactly were those tails were coming from
and were expected at that medium speed and neutral air space
What’s with the US and using the same routes over and over again, had the F117 incident not taught them finally
The SR-71 was flying decades before the F-117.
Additionally, the SR routinely flew Mach 3...you can't just whip the plane around at that speed...a 180 degree turn takes a LOT of time and space....everything had to be planned out well in advance.
Lastly, the F-117 wasn't shot down because of a repeated flight path. It was shot down because 1) a very clever man running the AA battery figured out how to gain a lock, 2) the F-117 is NOT a supersonic plane, and 3) it flew a HELL of a lot lower than the SR.
sam signorelli the F117 was flying the same flight path therefore the clever man on the AA concentrated on the section where the F117 supposedly flew
@@D3RPTV You realize you're basically proposing why oranges didn't learn from the mistakes apples made... At that time the SR-71 could outrun most missiles and wasn't concerned with issues involving the failure of stealth to defend the craft. Also of note... the 117's weren't supersonic much less capable of mach 3+ (likely 4 and change depending on altitude).
The sr71 used ramjets? What?
Afterburners (US term) or reheaters (UK term) are semi-ramjets. The SR-71 afterburners drew more air from around the turbojet core (the actual gas turbine motor). You can see the supplemental air vents in close-up photos.