Originally Posted by
Less Hair
You can precalculate where satellites will be. There is a whole science about how to evade satellite monitoring. This is why you need less predictable "winged assets" as well.
And if some major war should happen it boils down to classic reconnaissance with good old picture taking and bringing them back to your command.
Yep, which is why, as ORAC said, there's a bunch of pilotless aircraft available, to say nothing of the venerable U-2. I should imagine there are a few surveillance drones we don't know about, probably with an emphasis on low observability. Then there's the X-37B, which seems like an interesting platform; I'd be surprised if there isn't a capability to launch one at fairly short notice if things get "interesting".
Of course, none of these involve strapping in a pilot and doing Mach 3+, but unless the operational requirements include being "sexy" it's hard to see a justification for spending huge amounts of money solving that problem again. No harm in keeping the rumour mill going though; like UFOs in the '50s and '60s its a good distraction from the less glamorous stuff that's really happening...