No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in more hostile airspace, or with more complete freedom, than the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. With a futuristic organic design that originated back in the 1950s, it remains the world's fastest jet-propelled aircraft more than two decades after its final retirement.

During aerial reconnaissance missions, the SR-71 operated at high speeds and altitudes (Mach 3.2 and 85,000 feet, 25,900 meters), allowing it to outrace or entirely avoid threats. If a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outpace the missile.

The SR-71 was the world's fastest and highest-flying, air-breathing operational manned aircraft throughout its career. On 28 July 1976, an SR-71, piloted by then Captain Robert Helt, broke the world record: an "absolute altitude record" of 85,069 feet. Several aircraft have exceeded this altitude in zoom climbs, but not in sustained flight. That same day, the SR-71 set an absolute speed record of 2,193.2 miles-per-hour, approximately Mach 3.3. Aviation historian Peter Merlin said, "It still looks like something from the future, even though it was designed back in the 1950s."

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