What You Need to Know: The SR-72, developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, is a proposed hypersonic reconnaissance aircraft aimed to fill critical intelligence gaps in the U.S. Air Force.

If all goes as planned, the SR-72 prototype should fly in 2025, and enter service sometime in the 2030s. But don’t expect Skunk Works to keep the public fully informed of the SR-72’s progress.