Of course, because nothing matters more than getting the advantage.
Same line of thinking that results in depleted uranium tank shells.
The SR-71's predecessor used cesium-laced fuel to create radar-absorbing exhaust
11–20 of 160 posts
Re: The SR-71's predecessor used cesium-laced fuel to create radar-absorbing exhaust
#12I know it's toxic but from a technical aspect, that is really cool. I remember reading that the Apache Helicopter (I think?) can redirect it's exhaust internally temporarily to become invisible to heat seekers. Some of these technologies are super fun to read about.
Some of the stuff to restart the afterburners was pretty nasty too. I think it was one of the hypergolic families if I remember correctly.
Yep! It's called TEB (Triethylborane). More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triethylborane
JP-7 has a very high ignition temperature (it was actually used as a coolant/heat sink for the rest of the aircraft), so TEB combusting once it hit the air is used to light the engines.
SR-71s only had a limited amount of TEB to use each flight. I believe it was 13 shots per engine. TEB was used each time the engines were lit and also when afterburners were lit. While the SR-71's routes were built around refueling, the number of TEB shots remaining were the true limiting factor of the SR-71's flight time.
Re: The SR-71's predecessor used cesium-laced fuel to create radar-absorbing exhaust
#13I know it's toxic but from a technical aspect, that is really cool. I remember reading that the Apache Helicopter (I think?) can redirect it's exhaust internally temporarily to become invisible to heat seekers. Some of these technologies are super fun to read about.
Most military helicopters having some ways of masking IR signature: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S100093611...
Re: The SR-71's predecessor used cesium-laced fuel to create radar-absorbing exhaust
#14If you haven't read it, Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben Rich is a pretty fun read into the U2, A-12 Oxcart, SR-71, Sea Shadow and other craft. And has a lot of good stories from pilots. But the ultimate SR-71 book would be Sled Driver: Flying the World's Fastest Jet.
Funny story: decades ago I bought a copy of Sled Driver. I think it was in that remainder/coffee book section of the book store near the front, so it was probably $10.
Today they sell for $200-$350 used.
Due losing track of the first copy, buying a second one (when they were available new), then finding the first copy, I have two copies and high hopes of them funding my retirement..
Re: The SR-71's predecessor used cesium-laced fuel to create radar-absorbing exhaust
#15If you haven't read it, Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben Rich is a pretty fun read into the U2, A-12 Oxcart, SR-71, Sea Shadow and other craft. And has a lot of good stories from pilots. But the ultimate SR-71 book would be Sled Driver: Flying the World's Fastest Jet.
The sr-71 gets all the glory but go look at some of the aircraft that lost competitions. The convair kingfish that lost to the 71 was decades ahead. It lost for a number of reasons, some valid, some not. The f-22 competitor was super interesting as well.
Yeah, the YF-23 wins a lot of cool points on looks alone[1], and it was faster and stealthier than the F-22. Taking the -22 was probably the right choice given that it was lower risk and absurdly better than anything it's likely to encounter in its operational life.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YF-23#/media/File:YF-...
Re: The SR-71's predecessor used cesium-laced fuel to create radar-absorbing exhaust
#16Of course, because nothing matters more than getting the advantage. Same line of thinking that results in depleted uranium tank shells.
Cesium (in the +1 state) appears to be barely toxic at all. Wikipedia puts its LD50 around that of sodium. Cesium metal is extraordinarily dangerous, but it’s so reactive that none of it will survive long enough to get anywhere near the ground.
Re: The SR-71's predecessor used cesium-laced fuel to create radar-absorbing exhaust
#17If you haven't read it, Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben Rich is a pretty fun read into the U2, A-12 Oxcart, SR-71, Sea Shadow and other craft. And has a lot of good stories from pilots. But the ultimate SR-71 book would be Sled Driver: Flying the World's Fastest Jet.
The sr-71 gets all the glory but go look at some of the aircraft that lost competitions. The convair kingfish that lost to the 71 was decades ahead. It lost for a number of reasons, some valid, some not. The f-22 competitor was super interesting as well.
YF-23 actually looked futuristic, the F-22 looks like a mild modernization of the F-15/18
Re: The SR-71's predecessor used cesium-laced fuel to create radar-absorbing exhaust
#18my favorite A-12 read:
https://www.otherhand.org/home-page/area-51-and-other-strang...
that whole site is full of awesome accounts of his adventures out west.
Re: The SR-71's predecessor used cesium-laced fuel to create radar-absorbing exhaust
#19> It’s also not clear from the available records how much [cesium] was necessary per gallon of [jet fuel] Come on, you lazy reporter! Go find a jet engine and some cesium and a radar reflectometer and make a graph of reflectance vs. cesium content. Presumably, some engineer at Lockheed in the late 50s got exactly that assignment, with a budget. There would be a notebook with a table of numbers and a hand-drawn graph.…
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Re: The SR-71's predecessor used cesium-laced fuel to create radar-absorbing exhaust
#20> Though there is no indication that A-50 used a radioactive cesium isotope, the compound is toxic and it's unclear how hazardous the complete mixture may have been