Lessons Learned
Considering the Blackbird started developement in the late 50's, my statement of Aurora's existence assumed that lessons learned from the Blackbird program would have been corrected in Aurora.
Any high speed recon aircraft would have to be tenfold more efficient and cost effective than Blackbird.
Besides the special fuel and complicated crew pressurization requirements, I figure high speed aerodynamic compression would have to have been addressed. I wonder if composites could reduce the amount of stretch a Mach 3 aircraft would encounter.
I'm sure part of it is that as a kid (actually to this day) I was always awed by the Blackbird, part of me just doesn't want to let go.
Jeff