Lockheed’s D-21 Tagboard Supersonic Spy Drone

A newly declassified document shows that, during the Cold War, the U.S. military considered turning Lockheed’s D-21 Tagboard supersonic spy drone into an unmanned strike platform. A modified Marquardt RJ43 ramjet engine, also found on the CIM-10 Bomarc surface-to-air missile and AQM-60 Kingfisher target drone, could propel the D-21 to speeds over Mach 3 at altitudes of around 100,000 feet – higher than the A-12’s service ceiling. Given Tagboard’s general performance characteristics and other features, it’s not hard to see how Strategic Air Command would have looked at the drone and seen a very viable weapons platform, and one that could help it maintain relevant in the age of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

Source: www.thedrive.com