Mysterious X-Plane from NASA

[NMaude]

Isn't that basically a very tight cut of kerosene with some additive usually used in insect repellent added?

It was a specific blend with a very high flash-point which was needed due to the SR-71's high-altitude, high-speed cruise-profile where regular JP-4 would've gone boom due to the high-temperatures and very low atmospheric pressures, JP-7 needed to be ignited with TEA/TAB.​

 

[NMaude]

Here's a new video concerning NASA pulling its' SR-71 from its' museum display and lack of explanation as to why it was removed:

Today we discuss the SR-71 Blackbird that vanished from NASA Armstrong. Tail 844, the last Blackbird ever built and the last to fly, is gone from its display and NASA will not say where.

Aviation Week: https://aviationweek.com/defense/airc...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev...sr-71-storage-amid-x-plane-push&v=DZTWj7NfOgc
The Warzone: https://www.twz.com/air/a-sr-71-black...https://www.youtube.com/redirect?ev.../a-sr-71-blackbird-has-vanished&v=DZTWj7NfOgc


Aviation Week defense editor Steve Trimble broke the story using satellite imagery showing the aircraft missing since at least 17 May 2026. Joseph Trevithick at The War Zone followed up, and NASA's response was that it has no additional information to share, while noting it continues to explore opportunities to build on that legacy.

The timing is what has everyone talking. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman recently teased a new X-plane using a silhouette that looks a great deal like a Blackbird, and said the agency intends to fly higher, farther, and faster than it has in decades. Asked at AirVenture Oshkosh in July whether he would bring the SR-71 back, his answer was "that's classified."

Aviation Week has since reported that NASA reached out to former employees about returning to an SR-71 effort. One former Air Force and NASA test pilot, now in his late seventies, turned it down. His words: "I just don't think you can get there from here."

Tail 844 flew its last mission on 9 October 1999, reaching 80,100 feet and Mach 3.21 with NASA pilots Rogers Smith and Robert Meyer. It has sat in flyable storage at Armstrong since March 2002.

Getting it airborne again means JP-7, a fuel with a flash point high enough that the airframe used it as a heat sink. It means triethylborane shots to light the J58s, sixteen per reservoir. It means the tanker problem: 56 KC-135s were converted to KC-135Q between 1966 and 1968 with separated tanks purely to carry JP-7 for the Blackbird.

This is not the first attempt. Congress allocated $100 million in 1994 to return three SR-71s to Air Force service. The aircraft were grounded in 1996, funding came back the same year, and a line item veto killed it in 1997. The Air Force program formally ended on 30 June 1999 at Det 2, Edwards. After 9/11 the Pentagon asked what a restart would take and was told 60 to 90 days and roughly $45 million.​

0:00 The Mysterious Disappearance of the Blackbird
1:31 The Best Candidate for a Return to Flight
2:35 Recruiting Veterans for a New Mission
4:04 The Complex Science of Specialized Fuel
7:13 A History of Political and Technical Hurdles

 

[quellish]

Have to start making JP-7 again.

Back in 2008 there was an RFI for producing up to 110,000 gallons of JP-7 yearly for research between FY10-12. I believe there was a contract awarded but I haven't been able to locate it. Since then there have been no new contracts or RFIs for JP-7 production.