Why Does Elon Musk Cite the SR-71 Blackbird?

David Senra says Elon Musk cites the SR-71 Blackbird when he tells his team that speed is a massive competitive advantage. Senra reads Musk's line that the best offense and defense is speed. The Blackbird, a Kelly Johnson design from Skunk Works, was a military plane with almost no defense except acceleration. It was never shot down. Over 3,000 missiles were shot at it and none hit. All it did was go faster. The power of speed is underappreciated as a competitive factor.

Johnson designed the SR-71 in the 1960s, and 60 years later it still holds the record for the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft. Senra's next point is that a breakthrough program is an organization before it is a design, and that Johnson's most important invention may have been Skunk Works itself: small, empowered teams.