Armamento
Sobre el Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:
From the time it became operational in 1964 until it was retired in 1989 (and then retired again in 1998), the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spy plane was unparalleled it its ability to fly fast, fly high and literally outrun the missiles enemy defenders fired to bring it down.
In fact, during its entire operational career – 3,551 mission sorties totaling 11,000 hours (including 2,750 mission hours being flown at Mach 3) – no Blackbird was ever felled by enemy fire.
That’s no surprise, of course: You can’t hit what you can’t catch.
The needle-nosed black jet cruised easily at Mach 3.2 and flew its missions at 85,000 feet – right at the edge of outer space. That extreme performance, and the spy plane’s 2,900-mile mission range, meant the Blackbird could "overfly" potential "hot spots" in North Korea and Vietnam – or even a nuclear test site deep inside Mainland China – and bring back "the goods" that U.S. military decision-makers desperately needed before they could act.
Earlier this month, the Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) "Skunk Works" – the superb "black projects" innovator that built the Blackbird, the U-2 and the F-117 Stealth Fighter – unveiled plans for a new supersonic spy plane.
Lockheed is referring to it as the SR-72. But some aerospace writers have already dubbed it "Son of Blackbird."
The rocket-engine-maker GenCorp Inc. (NYSE: GY) will provide the powerplant that makes the project possible.
India comprando armamente:
In fact, from 2007-2011, India displaced China as the world’s biggest arms buyer – accounting for 10% of all weapons-systems purchases during that period, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). India spent $12.7 billion on arms during that period – 80% of which came from Russia.
China purchased $6.3 billion worth of arms during that stretch, 78% of which came from Russia.
Even with India’s efforts to develop weapons systems domestically, experts still expect that country to spend an additional $100 billion over the next 10 years as it works to modernize its military. Experts now expect about 60% of those purchases to come from Russia.
U.S. defense contractors have vowed to get a bigger piece of India’s outlays.
The United States has already made "tremendous progress" in expanding weapons sales to India since 2008, and U.S. companies could see "billions of dollars" in additional sales in coming years, Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, told Reuters in April.