In 2013, a feature article appeared on the website of legendary aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin that quickly had aviation buffs talking. The piece, titled “Speed is the New Stealth,” claimed that a new hypersonic aircraft was under development at the company’s famous Skunk Works facility, which would soon set a new standard for speed and stealth in American aerospace technologies. They called it the SR-72, an aircraft Aviation Week had already dubbed “the son of Blackbird” after its predecessor, the legendary SR-71.

Today, the status of the SR-72 program remains in question, although recent reports suggest that America’s next secretive spy plane could soon be taking flight. This week on The Micah Hanks Program, we delve into the mystery surrounding this aircraft, it’s relationship to the fictional “Darkstar” program depicted in the film Top Gun: Maverick, and also look at UAP sightings that could involve encounters with unacknowledged U.S. stealth technologies.