“The Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft. It was developed as a black project from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1960s by the Lockheed Skunk Works. Clarence “Kelly” Johnson was responsible for many of the design's innovative concepts. During reconnaissance missions the SR-71 operated at high speeds and altitudes to allow it to outrace threats. If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outrun the missile”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A U.S. Air Force SR-71A, also known as the “Blackbird”, is put through it's paces during a test flight over Beale Air Force Base in California. The aircraft is a strategic reconnaissance plane by Lockheed and is the world's fastest and highest flying operational aircraft. (Photo by Getty Images)

In this handout from the Ministry of Defence, Royal Air Force VC10 and Tristar air-to-air refuelling aircraft support the first UK air combat mission in support of UN Resolution 1973 in flight on March 19, 2011. Col Muammar Gaddafi has vowed a “long war” against the “crusader aggression” after over 100 missiles were fired by the US and UK, during multi-national action aimed at enforcing a UN-mandated no-fly zone. (Photo by SAC Neil Chapman/MoD via Getty Images)

A U.S. Army soldier with the 10th Special Forces Group and his military working dog jump off the ramp of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment during water training over the Gulf of Mexico as part of exercise Emerald Warrior 2011 on March 1, 2011. (Photo by Tech. Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez/U.S. Air Force)

Spectators shoot video with his their cellphones as Aerosparx Grob109b motor gliders launch fireworks while performing aerobatics at the end of Oeiras Valley Air Show, an aerobatics festival integrated in the Portugal Air Summit'22, over Santo Amaro Beach on October 16, 2022 in Oeiras, Portugal. The festival included various aerobatics performances with airplanes from the Air Race Championship, a Supermarine Spitfire, and air shows by former world champions Ramón Alonso, Castor Fantoba, Jorge Macias, Luís Garção, Quijote, Jacobstars and The Raven Team. It also had an overflight of the Portuguese Air Force F16s and, at the end of the afternoon, Aerosparx team illuminating Santo Amaro water mirror with fireworks launched from the airplanes' wings. (Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

A military aircraft flies low through the Mach Loop in west-central Wales on September 25, 2025 during Cobra Warrior 25-2, one of Nato’s largest multinational air exercises. The operation, running across the UK until October 3, brings together air forces from the UK, US, Canada, Italy and Germany for three weeks of high-intensity training in challenging low-level environments. (Photo by Tony Marsh)

A Colombian air force helicopter retrieves the bodies of victims from the wreckage of a plane that crashed into the Colombian jungle with Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense onboard near Medellin, Colombia, November 29, 2016. The chartered plane was carrying a Brazilian soccer team to the biggest match of its history when it crashed into a Colombian hillside and broke into pieces, killing 75 people and leaving six survivors, Colombian officials said Tuesday. (Photo by Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters)

Over 30 Douglas C-47 Skytrains (Dakotas) making final preparations for flight formation practice before the 75th D-Day Anniversary flight to Normandy in Duxford, England on June 4, 2019. (Photo by UK Air Force Images)

Family of passengers onboard AirAsia flight QZ8501 react at a waiting area in Juanda International Airport, Surabaya December 28, 2014. Indonesia's air force was searching for the AirAsia plane carrying 162 people that went missing on Sunday after the pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather during a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore. The Airbus 320-200 lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 6:17 a.m. (23:17 GMT), officials said. (Photo by Reuters/Beawiharta)