NASA Administrator Isaacman showed the silhouette of a mysterious aircraft, hinting at the restart of high-altitude and high-speed flight research

The picture shows the R-72 "Blackbird Son" hypersonic drone concept map released by Lockheed Martin. (Picture taken from Lockheed Martin)

[Reporter Wu Zheyu/Comprehensive Report] NASA may be preparing a new generation of high-speed X-planes. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman recently unveiled the silhouette of a mysterious aircraft. Its slender body, swept wings and highly integrated appearance immediately reminded the outside world of the SR-71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft. When directly questioned by the host, he not only did not explain the model of the aircraft, but instead asked, "Are you sure that's a Blackbird?" and emphasized that NASA was ready to reinvest in "high-altitude, high-speed" flight research.

The military news website "The War Zone" reported that Isaacman showed off a mysterious silhouette during his speech at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles last week with the title "Rebuilding Our X-Plane Fleet." He said that NASA is currently studying low-noise supersonic flight with the X-59, "but this is just the beginning." As NASA returns to flight testing and cooperates with the industry, it will once again fly as high and fast as it did decades ago, "or even higher and faster."

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The host then pointed out that the photo was the SR-71, but Isaacman asked, "Are you sure that's a Blackbird?" When asked what it was, he only replied: "NASA is returning to high-altitude, high-speed flight."

The SR-71 has a flight capability exceeding Mach 3. Although it was famous for strategic reconnaissance during the Cold War, it was also used by NASA for aeronautical research and continued to operate until 1999. Lockheed Martin once proposed the concept of a successor to the "SR-72" and even planned to build a fighter-sized demonstrator; however, it suddenly went silent after years of public discussions, and the current status of the plan is unknown.

The report pointed out that it is still unclear whether the silhouette displayed by NASA represents a real research and development program. The government and arms dealers often present future technologies with concept drawings, so it cannot be concluded that the mysterious new aircraft has entered development.

However, Isaacman is indeed actively rebuilding NASA's X-plane development system. On the second day he took office in December last year, he requested the expansion of the X-plane program. In March this year, he even stated that NASA should frequently test flight experimental aircraft.

Currently, NASA's latest X-plane is the X-59, which broke the sound barrier for the first time in June this year and reached Mach 1.1. The future target is Mach 1.4. There is still a huge gap compared to the SR-71's record of about Mach 3.3, but the main task of the X-59 is to study the reduction of sonic boom, rather than the pursuit of extreme speed.

NASA launched the Aeronautical Flight Accelerator (AFA) in April this year. It hopes that the new technology will enter flight testing within three years, and the research scope will clearly cover supersonic and hypersonic speeds. The fiscal year 2027 budget also lists high-speed flight as a focus, emphasizing that in addition to air transportation, related technologies can also strengthen national security capabilities.