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The SR-71 Blackbird The SR-71 Blackbird was a supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed's Skunk Works in the 1960s, led by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson. Designed for high-speed, high-altitude intelligence gathering during the Cold War, it could fly at Mach 3+ and over 85,000 feet, making it virtually invulnerable to interception. The U.S. Air Force retired most of its SR-71s in 1990, with a brief reactivation in the mid-1990s before final retirement in 1998, though NASA operated some for research until 1999.