DAYTON, Ohio (AP) 24 Dec 1995
[EXCERPTS]
``The plane is the only one of its kind. It's the highest-flying, fastest manned reconnaissance platform,'' said Capt. Michael Zimmerman, who managed the SR-71 restoration program from Wright-Patterson.
The Blackbird, named for its dark and stealthy presence, first flew in 1966. The 12-plane force was retired in 1990 because of the high cost of maintenance. But several of the planes were brought out of mothballs last September to plug gaps in U.S. intelligence-gathering.
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., led the charge for reactivating the jets in July 1994 as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
``We needed it in the Persian Gulf War, when battlefield commanders could not get enough imagery from satellites to answer all of their intelligence questions,'' Byrd said then.
The other U.S. reconnaissance planes -- the U-2 and the RC-135 -- do not have the speed and altitude to fly over a potentially hostile opponent and unmanned aerial vehicles are still being developed, he added.
Had the SR-71 been activated and allowed to fly over Iraq during the war, it could have detected Iraqi troop movements and determined the accuracy of U.S. bombings, he said. And it could have helped make more precise airdrops of food and medical supplies in Bosnia.
``It's a costly airplane, but it's very unique in that nothing else can do it,'' Behler[?] said. ``I believe the number of airplanes we have to fulfill that requirement is adequate.''