Greatest Weapons of Fiction: Auto 9

This one comes from that greatest of Distopean science-fiction films, Paul Verhoeven's 1987 masterpiece, RoboCop.

This weapon was based on the real-life Beretta 93R, which was a development of the famous Beretta 92 pistol, in service with the US Armed Forces as the M9. The movie version is given an extended barrel and compensator/ barrel weight/ heat sink to lessen the recoil and muzzle rise of a small weapon firing a burst at a high cyclic rate. The prop masters also added a large front a rear sight set.

The real 93R is a select-fire pistol chambered in 9x19mm NATO round and firing from a 20 round detachable box magazine. Unlike the 92, the 93R is a single action pistol. The "R" stands for Raffica which translates to "burst" in Italian. There are two modes of fire, semi-automatic and burst. The burst is of three rounds, firing at approximately 1100 rounds per minute. The designers opted for a burst mode rather than a true full automatic to help minimize muzzle rise and its attendant ammunition wastage.

Soviet Engineering

Works for me.

UH-72 Lakota

This is the newest helicopter in the arsenal of the United States Army, the UH-72 Lakota.
Built by the American Eurocopter division of EADS North America. The planned order for the Army is for 350 aircraft which will be manufactured in Columbus , Mississippi. The Lakota is set to replace the aging UH-1H Hueys as the primary light utility helicopter. The Army continued its long tradition of naming its helicopters after Native American tribes. The UH-72 was designed to accomplish a wide variety of missions, from Medevac to counter narcotics to resupply. A large number of aircraft purchased will be for the Army National Guard units and for the Department of Homeland Defense. Smaller numbers of Lakotas have been obtained by the Navy, the United States Military Academy and the armed forces of Malta.


In the near future, an armed version of the Lakota may to replace the Army's OH-58D Kiowa scout helicopters. The evaluation is to occur sometime in 2010. The UH-72 is being procured as a commercial off the shelf unit (COTS) which will simplify the procurement process. EADS North America has entered into an agreement with Sikorsky to provide logistics support.

General characteristics

• Crew: 2 pilots
• Capacity: 8 troops or 2 stretchers and medical crew
• Length: 42 ft 7 in (13.03 m)
• Rotor diameter: 36 ft 1 in (11.00 m)
• Height: 11 ft 9 in (3.45 m)
• Disc area: 1,023 ft² (94.98 m²)
• Empty weight: 3,950 lb (1,792 kg)
• Useful load: 3,953 lb (1,793 kg)
• Max Takeoff weight: 7,903 lb (3,385kg)
  
• Powerplant: 2× Turbomeca Arriel IE2 turboshafts, 738 shp (551 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed 145 knots (167 MPH, 269 KPH)
• Range: 370 nautical miles (426 miles, 685 km)
• Service ceiling: 18,000 feet (5,791m)
  

The Boneyard

You definitely want to click on this and zoom in

Since we will be featuring a great deal of planes this week on Homemade Defense, I thought I would share these amazing photos of the airplane graveyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base near Tucson, Arizona. The site is currently called the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group. There have been planes stored at the base since 1945, when they took possession of a number of Army Air Corps B-29s and C-47s following the end of WWII. The site was chosen for its low humidity and high altitude, which slows the rate of decay down amazingly. With little to no precipitation, these airframes can sit outside in the elements for decades with only minor damage. The alkali soil also cuts down on the corrosion and rust of the steel parts. AMARG also is fairly unique among military bases in that it makes more money than it costs to run the base. For every $1 the federal government spends operating the facility, it saves or produces $11 from harvesting spare parts and selling off inventory.

If you take a closer look at the pic above, you can clearly distinguish many different types of aircraft. There are dozens of B-52s, some with their wings cut off so that the Soviets could verify their retirement as a part of arms treaties. Their is a line of B-1 bombers down the left center of the lower half, to the right are some assorted helicopters, mostly UH-1 Hueys and CH-47s . In the top section, you can see some Navy aircraft, including the F-14 Tomcat in the center and some E-2C Hawkeyes in the bottom, near the bisecting road with F-111 Aardvarks to the right.

The site is massive, spread out over 2,600 acres, and it has over 4,400 aircraft in its inventory. This includes hundreds of B-52s and over 700 F4 Phantoms. While many of the planes and helicopters at AMARG will never fly again, some are stored for possible future use. For example, from 2006 to 2008, five mothballed CH-53Es have been reinstated from AMARG due to combat losses in the War on Terror. From time to time, older aircraft are activated to replace others lost in accidents, combat, or those that have reached their maximum number of flight hours. With modern aircraft, the avionics, radars, targeting pods, etc. can cost as much as the airframe its self, so this makes good sense. There are four categories of aircraft at the Boneyard. "Parts Reclamation" are aircraft that are kept for parts to keep others of their type in flying condition. "Excess of Department of Defense Needs" are aircraft awaiting sale, mostly to foreign Air Forces, either whole, or in parts. "Long Term" storage is for aircraft that are being kept intact for possible future use. Many of these planes can be restored to flying condition in a matter of hours or days. The last category is "Flying Hold", which is for aircraft that are in a shorter term storage than the long term. Some aircraft have been rebuilt for use as remotely operated flying targets for Air Force and Navy fighter aircraft.


You can see how potentially useful airframes like these Hueys, Phantoms and Warthogs are protected from the elements as much as possible. Aircraft entering storage are carefully preserved. First, the plane is disarmed. Then, all classified equipment, ejection seats and so forth is removed. The aircraft is emptied of all fuel and the lines are filled with light oil and drained to form a protective barrier in the tanks and lines. To protect the aircraft from dust, high temperatures and and sun damage, it is tightly sealed. Sometimes this means putting up a sun shield over the windows and other times the airframe is wrapped in white plastic or even sealed with a vinyl compound called spraylat. Then it is towed to its storage position. Just like in the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I have read that a number of Vietnam-era jets (probably F4 Phantoms) have been sold to Turkey in the last several years. While the F4 will never be a front line fighter aircraft again, it can serve well as a light tactical bomber or even stand in as a dedicated close air support platform. And if you have the right friends at the Pentagon, you can probably get them for a song. Congress has oversight on what types or aircraft and parts can be sold to whom, which is why the F-14s at AMARG will likely sit there until the desert swallows them up. The F-14 is currently only in service in the Air Force of Iran so the Government is not selling any Tomcat parts to anyone. (After they accidentally sold some spare parts to Iranian agents. Whoops.)

The Boneyard in May 1992

Museum of Aviation, Robins Air Force Base, GA

I recently finally got to visit the Museum of Aviation on Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia. I have passed a billboard for the museum approximately 500 times and never made the time to go. Well, that was a mistake, because it is awesome. It is easily the largest air museum I've ever been to and definitely had a great deal of aircraft I had never seen before. So here we go. The place is so huge and full of stuff that I am going to split the pics into 3 or more posts.



For me, this B1-B Lancer was maybe the most impressive. I guess I hadn't realized it seeing the B1 on TV or the Internet, but it is HUGE. To imagine it going 700 miles per hour and carrying 50,000 pounds of bombs on a low level penetration raid is simply terrifying. There were several bigger planes at the museum, but no others that were bigger than I imagined them to be.


From the big to the small, here is the Bensen X-25A. Never mind that missile, it was not attached. One problem with the museum is that there are so many planes that it is difficult to get clean photos. Anyway, the X-25A was designed to be carried in the cockpit of larger aircraft so that if they were shot down, they could just unfold the little helicopter and fly away. Well, apparently they really did smoke a lot of weed in the 60's, 'cause that idea is crazy. Not only does it ignore the question in that comes to my mind upon considering the design. If your awesome fighter, helicopter, bomber or whatever got shot down, what chance would you have in a cheap bar stool with a lawnmower attached to it? And if you were say, bombing Siberia in a B-52, just how far would you be able to get on this thing? Well, maybe someone is paying attention, because the production was never funded.






Here we have a F-16A wearing the paint scheme of the Thunderbirds, the Air Force's flight demonstration squadron. They have been using the F-16 since 1982 and have since moved on to the F-16C and D.



Another favorite of mine, the MiG 15. One of the first really useful jets, and one of the first to apply captured German "swept wing" technology. I was only sad that it wasn't in the "Super Commie" all red paint scheme. Oh well.



This is a Martin TM-61A Matador. It is the first operational Cruise missile in the United States inventory. Sharp tacks amongst you out there may notice its similarity to the German V-1 Buzzbomb of WWII. Unsurprisingly, this is not coincidental as we took every good idea Germany ever had in the fifties. Except those awesome beer girl dresses. Where were our priorities?

First fielded in 1953, the Matador was a leap in technology. At first the Matador was piloted via radio link with a ground station and as the system used line of sight transmission, limited the Matador's range to around 250 miles. Later a system called Shanicle (Short Range Navigation Vehicle) was adapted to the missile to give it a more modern guidance system. The Shanicle used microwave emitters to guide the Matador and extended its range to 620 miles.

It was armed with a Mark 5 Nuclear Bomb with a 40 kiloton warhead and intended for use as a tactical theater weapon. It accuracy was not great and it would have likely been fired at large targets like army bases, airfields, marshaling points, supply bases and so forth. The last Matadors were removed from active service in 1962, with a total of 1200 missiles produced. The last active squadrons were based at Bitburg Air Base, West Germany, Tainan, Taiwan, and in several locations in South Korea.


Another plane that I have read a lot about, the F-111 Aardvark. Sadly, these planes are soon to be only seen in museums and boneyards, because the Air Force stopped flying them in 1998, including the EF-111A Raven, which was a dedicated electronic warfare jet. Electronic warfare is certainly not as exciting to read about as fighters and bombers, but is absolutely essential and in my opinion, we have a gap in the inventory without it. The Royal Australian Air Force still flies the F-111, but they are due to be replaced with the F/A-18 Super Hornet very soon.

Also, this particular F-111 has what every plane needs: nose art of a sexy lady.

Weird guns- Device "D"

I seem to have a special liking for the Cold War- era equipment of the Soviet Spetsnaz. The items are all rugged, simple, and effective. They usually don't win any points for aesthetics, but hey, they don't make them for sitting around and looking pretty.


On to Device "D". The basic plan in the event of a conventional WWIII was that many highly trained and fairly independent Spetsnaz teams would infiltrate NATO lines and do as much damage as possible, preferably to high value targets. Fuel and ammunition dumps, Command and Control sites, Radar installations and aircraft on the ground were high on the list. Above all, missile sites, whether they be anti-air, tactical, or medium range nuclear weapons would be the target of the Spetsnaz teams. As all of those targets are lightly armored, Soviet planners decided that a 30mm grenade would be sufficient to destroy or severely damage them. A combined high explosive and incendiary warhead would be able to destroy or disable a large variety of targets.

Device "D" without grenade cup launcher, bipod, and butt stock

To maximize the tactical surprise of the attack and increase the chances of success (and escape), it was decided the new grenade launcher would be sound and flash suppressed. To make the weapon more versatile, It was also given an armor piercing, internally silenced 9mm round to be used against enemy personnel. The firearm itself is a fairly crude, single shot, bolt action pistol. To achieve the maximum range and accuracy, the user needs to use the bipod and and the holster can be attached to use as a butt stock in the manner of the Mauser C96. When in grenade launch mode, a cup is attached to the muzzle and the grenade is loaded from the front. There is a manual extractor for unloading any unfired grenades and the grenade sight is attached to the left side of the weapon. Range is stated to be about 300m. The 9mm AP round is said to be able to penetrate 5mm of mild steel at 100 meters but the bullet is very heavy and slow at about about 430 grains and 830 FPS. It achieves its penetrative power by virtue of its dense steel construction. The (9x93mm) noiseless cartridge is similar to the 7.62x63mm noiseless cartridge we have already discussed. It has a thick steel case with a small charge of powder and a piston which pushes the projectile out of the case and then captures the excess gases, which is the cause of most the gunshot report and muzzle flash. The PMAM "Mundshtuck" cartridge has a push rod which transfers the energy of the piston to the muzzle-loaded grenade, seen below.

PMAM 30mm HE/Incindiary grenade and noiseless cartridge

PFAM 9x93mm AP cartridge

Victoria Cross- Able Seacat Simon

I read about a military working dog in Afghanistan that received the Dickin Medal, also known as the Animal Victoria Cross. Reading a little more, I learned about Simon. I think working dogs are great, but I like cats better. If you don't like cats, go to hell.

In 1948, a sailor named George Hickbottom picked up a starving cat in on docks of Hong Kong. he brought the approximately 1 year old cat onto his ship, the HMS Amethyst. Seaman Hickinbottom smuggled Simon aboard and he soon settled in to his new military life, and made himself popular by waging war on the rats that infested the lower decks. As typical with cats, he had no sense of propriety, and became famous for sleeping in the Captain's hat and leaving dead rats in the bunks of his favorite sailors. Simon became the mascot of the ship and stayed on even after the Captain left. The new Captain, Bernard Skinner, was ordered to take the ship up the Yangtze River to Nanking to replace the ship stationed there. On the way, the Amethyst was fired on by Communist Chinese artillery batteries. One of the first shots struck the Captain's cabin and severely wounding Simon. He was able to crawl onto the deck and was rushed to the medical bay where he was treated for burns and had four pieces of shrapnel removed but was not expected to survive the night. Just like any good alley cat, he pulled through and was soon back on duty, exterminating the rats that had invested the ship while it was anchored in the Yangtze River. He was also credited with raising the morale of the sailors on board with his antics and good nature.

Simon soon became a celebrity following the end of the "Yangtze Incident" and was the subject of many stories in the British and International news. He was awarded the Dickin Medal, also known as the the Animal Victoria Cross and also received the Amethyst Campaign medal, the Blue Cross, and the rank of "Able Seacat". he received so much mail that Lt. Stuart Hett was given the title of "cat officer" and the duty of dealing with all of his mail. Simon was presented with honor at all of the Amethyst's ports of call on the cruise back to England.

Sadly, Simon was subject to the quarantine regulations for all animals entering the UK and died of a viral infection caused by his shell wounds. Hundreds of people, including the entire crew of HMS Amethyst attended his funeral in Ilford in East London. His gravestone reads:

IN
MEMORY OF
"SIMON"
SERVED IN
H.M.S. AMETHYST
MAY 1948 — SEPTEMBER 1949
AWARDED DICKIN MEDAL
AUGUST 1949
DIED 28TH NOVEMBER 1949.
THROUGHOUT THE YANGTZE INCIDENT HIS BEHAVIOUR WAS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER

Military Technology: Less Lethal Weapons

Since military forces around the world are forced into peacekeeping and anti-riot duties more each year, there has been a surge of interest in Less Lethal weapon technology. Notice that I did not mention anything about non lethal weapons. That is because any weapon, be it a pistol, nightstick, Taser, beer bottle or stick has the potential to cause a fatal injury. To think otherwise is to have a very imperfect understanding of human anatomy, weapons, or both.
OK. Now that we have that out of the way, We can continue.



First up, we have an update on an old favorite of law enforcement. For years police have used "bean bag" shotgun rounds to subdue dangerous suspects without risking the officers' life. These bean bags are 2"x2" bags full of steel shot. I imagine that their impact on ones torso would be quite uncomfortable. However, there are some limitations of the classic bean bag round. After firing, the bag unfolds and flies through the air face-on, making it rather inaccurate and limiting its range to less than 30 feet or so. One solution to this is the new Home Defender Superstar ammunition from Lightfield Less Lethal. The projectile most resembles a small kush ball. Since it is more or less round, it cuts through the air much better, giving it some additional range, up to 15 yards. The projectiles weigh 75 grains, which by the way is heavier than most 5.56mm bullets. Muzzle velocity is 650 FPS, which is well below just about firearm, but not by too much. Many .45ACP loads top out at about 850 FPS. So this thing would, in all likelihood, knock the living shit out of you. Lightfield does state that the user must only target large muscle groups in the abdomen and below and that the minimum engagement distance with this load is 2 yards, so obviously the star is able to cause significant injuries if used incorrectly.








Next up we have the newest offering from Taser. This is the Taser X3 , which offers 3 shots of CO2-fired darts capable of delivering a shock that completely overrides the target's nerve system to force them to cease resistance. The Taser also features a conventional contact stun gun, and has a Warning Arc feature designed to increase compliance. Another way to say that is to let the subject know that if he doesn't stop whatever he is doing, he is going to get tased.(bro) The X3 also has a focused beam flashlight and dual sighting laser, adjustable for standard or long range rounds. In addition to its features that mostly enable the user to have an easier time of shocking the crap out of someone, the X3 also has a log that records every time the weapon is activated and therefore gives (legal) protection to the firer and the target. The last of the safety systems is a anti-felon system, designed to deter misuse by criminals. The AFID includes bar-coded serialization of each cartridge and disperses confetti-like ID tags upon firing. There is also a colored visual display to indicate the mode, battery level and so forth.




Last on today's list is the FN 303 Less Lethal Launcher. It was developed from a paintball gun to fire a variety of munitions. It fires from a 15 round rotary magazine and is powered by a removable tank of CO2.


The 303 can be mounted under an assault rifle like the M16 or be used with its own butt stock and sights. The idea is to give the police officer or soldier the ability to use a less lethal system but have the protection of a conventional firearm as well. there are four main types of ammunition for the 303. The most common is the training load which is a .68 caliber, bismuth weighted, non-toxic glycol ball that weighs about 8.5 grains. The OC or Oleoresin capsicum load is an orange dyed, glycol base mixed with 10% OC. This is pretty much the same as most pepper sprays and can be used in a riot or armed suspect arrest. there are also two marking loads, one with permanent paint and the other with a washable dye, that is used in riot and demonstration situations to mark violent protesters and such for law enforcement to apprehend or keep an eye on. The muzzle velocity of all loads is about 280 FPS, which makes it a lot safer than firearm based weapons. The 303 has a longer range than most other less lethal systems, but the effectiveness of it is somewhat lower. While is is probably much safer than any "rubber bullet" or other old-style anti-riot weapons, it has already caused a death when a passerby was hit in the eye and killed in Boston in 2004.



Specifications:

• Weight: 5lbs (Stand Alone), 4.9 (Undercarriage)
• Length: 29" (Stand Alone), 17.7" (Undercarriage)
• Projectile Weight: 8.5gr
• Mag Capacity: 15 round
• Propulsion Method: Compressed Air (canister contained)
• Effective Range: 100 Meters

www.fnhusa.com
www.taser.com
http://www.lightfieldlesslethal.com/law_superstar.html

Camouflage- Factory Scale

Way back before GPS and flawless maps of virtually the entire surface of the earth, it could be very difficult to fly to another country and bomb the hell out of a specific target. Even if you had a good idea where it was, it could be difficult to locate from the air, many bombing runs were flown at medium to high altitude to better avoid anti aircraft machine guns and artillery.

When the United States entered WWII, there was great fear of a Japanese attack on the West Coast and its invaluable military infrastructure. One important site was the Lockheed Aircraft factory in Burbank, California. The Lockheed Vega factory was located next to Burbank's Union Airport, which it had purchased prior to the outbreak of the war. This factory was ultimately where almost 20,000 aircraft were produced for the war effort. Most notably, they produced 9,000 of the P-38 Lightning, the best fighter of the entire war. They also built 2,750 B-17 Flying Fortresses under license from Boeing. So it was pretty important. The decision was made to take steps to protect the entire site from air attack. Rather than take the conventional route and reinforce buildings, construct bunkers and ring the area with dozens of anti-aircraft guns, they decided to camouflage the entire factory so that it would be unable to be located from the air. This way any enemy reconnaissance would be unable to pinpoint the exact site of the factory complex.

Lockheed's Burbank Factory

The same area after the camouflage had been completed

The camouflage scheme devised was nothing short of genius. The entire factory, including the parking lots, outbuildings and everything was covered in a gigantic burlap tarp painted to give the impression of a rural neighborhood. There were rubber cars set, up, fake roads and houses. The illusion was finished with hundreds of fake trees and shrubs. The trees and shrubs were created from chicken wire treated with an adhesive and covered with feathers to provide a leafy texture.

The difference in perspective for pilots flying several thousand feet up completed erased the difference of a few feet from the ground to the top of the tarp

Whether the ruse would have been effective is an interesting question. Certainly if the Japanese were to discover through spies the nature of the disguise, it may have been totally ineffective. But a single recon plane, or a bomber group at 20,000 feet trying to defend its self from fighters and avoid ground fire might well miss it. Since this was well before many of today's navigation methods and visual identification was the only method available, it could have made all the difference of there had aver been an air raid.To me it just represents some of the amazing innovation, creativity, and effort that was what made the difference in many ways during the largest and most terrible war that history has seen.

Atlas V Sonic Boom

Here is a cool video sent in by a loyal reader of the Sonic Boom coming off an Atlas V rocket being launched.

Medal of Honor- LTC Aquilla James Dyess, USMC Reserve

AQUILLA JAMES DYESS

Rank and organization: Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

Born: 11 January 1909, Augusta, Ga.

Appointed from: Georgia.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, 24th Marines (Rein), 4th Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces during the assault on Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, 1 and 2 February 1944.

Undaunted by severe fire from automatic Japanese weapons, Lt. Col. Dyess launched a powerful final attack on the second day of the assault, unhesitatingly posting himself between the opposing lines to point out objectives and avenues of approach and personally leading the advancing troops. Alert, and determined to quicken the pace of the offensive against increased enemy fire, he was constantly at the head of advance units, inspiring his men to push forward until the Japanese had been driven back to a small center of resistance and victory assured. While standing on the parapet of an antitank trench directing a group of infantry in a flanking attack against the last enemy position, Lt. Col. Dyess was killed by a burst of enemy machine gun fire. His daring and forceful leadership and his valiant fighting spirit in the face of terrific opposition were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

I learned about LTC Dyess when I visited the Augusta, GA Museum of History a few months ago. There is a display set up to honor him and his family donated his Medal of Honor to the museum.

XB-70 Valkyrie

In my opinion, this is one of the most interesting-looking bombers to ever fly, the XB-70 Valkyrie, designed by North American Aviation. It was intended to be a supersonic, nuclear- armed, deep penetration bomber. It was designed way back when military planners thought that the B-52 would be retired by the late 1960s. (They were way wrong and the common belief is that the last pilot of the B-52 has not yet been born.)

The Valkyrie was designed to fly at or above 70,000 feet and at speeds up to Mach 3 to avoid being targeted by interceptor fight aircraft, the only effective way of defending against high altitude bombers at the time of the XB-70's design. Only two were ever built and the program was canceled in 1961 when it became apparent that the new surface to air missiles made high altitude attack untenable. This was most evident when the U-2 "Dragon Lady" piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 by a volley of SA-2 Guideline missiles. The Valkyrie was later used for high speed and altitude testing, and some of their technology resurfaced in the B-1 Lancer and SR-71 Blackbird.

3 views of the XB-70

The Valkyrie was an advanced design, making use of honeycombed steel and titanium to combat the high temperatures that the airframe reached at supersonic speeds. The XB-70 was built around a large delta wing, common in designs of the time, and used supersonic technologies from the Mach 3 Navajo. One of its most interesting features is the use of compression lift. This created a shock wave below the aircraft that would increase the lift of the wing by 5%, giving the Valkyrie greater ceiling, range, and efficiency. The compression lift was generated by a wedge on the engine inlets. The design of the Valkyrie was different from almost every other aircraft in its time, in that the outer sections of the wing was hinged so that it could be pivoted down up to 65 degrees. The effect was to increase the directional stability of the the XB-70 when it was traveling at supersonic speeds and strengthen the effect of the compression lift. When the wingtips were pointed down, more of the shock wave would be trapped under the wings, increasing the lift.

General characteristics

Data from USAF XB-70 Fact sheet

• Crew: 2
• Length: 185 ft 10 in
  
• Wingspan: 105 ft 0 in
  
• Height: 30 ft 9 in
• Wing area: 6,296 ft²
  
• Airfoil: Hexagonal; 0.30 Hex modified root, 0.70 Hex modified tip
• Empty weight: 210,000 lb
  
• Loaded weight: 534,700 lb
  
• Max takeoff weight: 550,000 lb
  
• Powerplant: 6× General Electric YJ93-GE-3 afterburning turbojet
  • Dry thrust: 19,900 lbf each
  • Thrust with afterburner: 28,800 lbf each

Performance

• Maximum speed: Mach 3.1 (2,056 mph, 3,309 km/h)
• Cruise speed: Mach 3.0 (2,000 mph, 3,200 km/h)
• Range: 3,725 nmi (4,288 mi, 6,900 km) combat
• Service ceiling: 77,350 ft (23,600 m)
• Wing loading: 84.93 lb/ft² (414.7 kg/m²)
• lift-to-drag: about 6 at Mach 2
• Thrust/weight: 0.314

Early designs featured wing tip fuel tanks that could be jettisoned with the wing tips

Sadly, one of the XB-70s was lost in a terrible collision between the Valkyrie and a F-104 Starfighter in 1966. The F-104 pilot and the co-pilot of the XB-70 were killed and the pilot of the Valkyrie severely injured by the clamshell escape pod that closed on his left arm as he ejected.

XB-70 Valkyrie seconds after impact with a F-104 Starfighter