Russia's Own SR-71 Mach 3 Monster Never Made It Into the Sky

Sebastien Roblin

Technology, Europe

The interesting question is why.

Still, brilliant Soviet engineer Pavel Tsybin came close to developing a “Soviet Blackbird”—though it, in fact, predated the A-12/Blackbird by several years and was originally conceived as a nuclear bomber.

It’s a cliché of the Cold War that no sooner did one superpower pioneer a new weapons technology that its rival swiftly sought its own copy, canceling out any advantage long-term. Though this frequently did occur, the Soviet Union and the West had diverging theories about precisely which platforms would most reinforce their security posture.

For example, during the 1950s and 60s, the United States invested considerably in various spy planes designed to penetrate hostile airspace such as the high-flying RB-57 and U-2, followed by the Mach 3-cruising A-12 and SR-71 Blackbirds.

(This first appeared in June 2019.)

However, the Soviet Union was never convinced such technically impressive penetrating strategic reconnaissance planes were a great idea. They ultimately struggled to keep up with advances in surface-to-air missile technology, and potential shoot-downs could result in embarrassing diplomatic incidents. Better to use deniable agents on the ground or orbiting satellites without risk of embarrassing Soviet leaders.

Still, brilliant Soviet engineer Pavel Tsybin came close to developing a “Soviet Blackbird”—though it, in fact, predated the A-12/Blackbird by several years and was originally conceived as a nuclear bomber.

Compared to famous Soviet bureaus such as Mikoyan i Gurevich (MiG), Sukhoi and Tupolev, the design bureau OKB-256 headed by Tsybin remained small and had to fight for its small chunk of the Soviet defense budget. But the aeronautical engineer was thinking big when he proposed in 1954 to develop the Reaktivny Samolet (RS) ramjet-powered bomber that could cruise at three times the speed of sound.