"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:CYonc.57309$kh4.3397705@attbi_s52...

According to Bill Fox, Lockheed Skunkworks project coordinator for over 30
years (and the guy who donated all the stuff for our Blackbird Suite), the
final nail in the coffin was politics, pure and simple.


There are still intact Blackbirds around. The Air Force has the optical
packages in storage somewhere, too.

The same political forces that killed the SR-71 would also have killed the
Aurora -- they would have hated it for the same reason they hated the
Blackbirds.

The SR-71 was assigned to SAC, which never wanted it. It competed for tanker
resources, did not carry any ordnance, and stole all the glory at airshows.
When it was retired, no high-ranking members of the military or Pentagon
were present at the ceremony.