Lockheed Martin taps silicon photonics tech to build better weapons of war

Military contractor Lockheed Martin this week announced plans to integrate Ayar Lab’s optical input tech into future defense platforms. Founded in 2015, the California-based Ayar Labs specializes in developing high-bandwidth interfaces which trade copper traces for low-bandwidth optical transmission. Lockheed Martin’s …

[Roger 11]

WTF?

"Infamous" SR-71?

[Cederic]

Re: WTF?

I concur. Many superlatives and a couple of swear words could be used to describe the SR-71 but I wouldn't have chosen 'infamous'.

It would be ground breaking if it flew today, and it was flying in the 60s! Genuinely astonishing and magnificent machine.

I am a fan though. I've touched one. It made me happy.

[Martin Gregorie]

I wouldn't have chosen 'infamous' either.

I came here to say that: its still unbeaten tech and superlative kit even though it cost an arm and a leg to operate, especially when you factor in the cost of its airborne refuelling fleet.

I've never touched an SR-71, but you can go and see an example at Duxford. However, I have had the pleasure of attending two talks by one of the SR-71 reconnaissance squadron leaders about SR-71 ops and one about his 'Wild Weasel' ops experience in Vietnam before he got the SR-71 gig.