Originally Posted by
Less Hair
So why is the manned U-2 still flying? It must have some use apart from the drones?
It clearly does; it does most of what the SR-71 did, at a fraction of the cost. Combine that capability with the drones (including the ones we don't know about) and satellites (inc X-37B), and you have a pretty powerful/versatile information-gathering capability. Sure, it's always possible to imagine some scenario/requirement that could only be met by a Mach 3 rocketship with a man inside. However that's a much smaller niche than it used to be, and a very expensive one to fill.
The SR-71's USP was that it could go wherever it wanted, and no-one could shoot it down. That's actually a pretty antagonistic thing to do ("Hey, look, you can't catch me!"). Much more elegant to capture the information without getting caught; if you can avoid being spotted, there's no need to blat around the sky while you're doing it.