> The original design was conceived by two Lockheed Skunk Works engineers who had prior race car engine knowledge. In the mid-1970's, the engines of the start carts was changed to Chevrolet LS-7 454's. The Chevrolet big block engines developed 465 horsepower each. Even so, for many years they were still referred to as the Buick's.
https://www.thesr71blackbird.com/Aircraft/Engines/starting-t...
And eventually the start carts themselves got replaced.
> In the '80's the AG-330 Start Carts were mothballed and in there place came a Pneumatic Air starting system for the SR-71's. It is true that the start carts were hard to maneuver around. Logistically, a recovery of a Blackbird at another base could be done easier with Pneumatic Air.
Sure, less impressive than a contraption with a bunch of car engines but much more powerful.
We fixed it the other easy way: In the event that an SR-71 makes an unscheduled stop somewhere that wasn't prepared for it, then we send out a bunch of dudes with a cargo plane and some starter carts. That just takes money, which even easier.
It also takes time, but time was not a big deal: The plane was going to be there for awhile anyway. It could go over 15,000 miles between takeoff and landing; it wouldn't have landed where it did if it weren't broken somehow to begin with.
It'd need repaired by the crews who actually knew how to work on it -- who would also need flown in.
It would also need fuel before it could leave. That's problematic since the JP-7 it required was shared by ~nothing else in the sky, so: More deliveries.
Waiting for some Buick V8 starter carts to be delivered from the other side of the world wasn't really a roadblock at all.