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Air Force Sets Date To Fly Mach-6 Scramjet

Posted by timothy on from the let's-go-dutch-this-time dept.

coondoggie writes "The US Air Force said it was looking to launch its 14-foot long X-51A Waverider on its first hypersonic flight test attempt May 25. The unmanned X-51A is expected to fly autonomously for five minutes, after being released from a B-52 Stratofortress off the southern coast of California. The Waverider is powered by a supersonic combustion scramjet engine, and will accelerate to about Mach 6 as it climbs to nearly 70,000 feet. Once flying, the X-51 will transmit vast amounts of data to ground stations about the flight, then splash down into the Pacific. There are no plans to recover the flight test vehicle, one of four built, the Air Force stated."

10 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. Geotaggers, your mission should you choose to.. by qwerty8ytrewq · · Score: 5, Funny

    ..accept it, is to go and get this baby. It should fetch a good price on ebay. I can only imagine the difficulties of finding this craft in the Pacific Ocean, but if you could... Legend status is yours.

    --
    Waiting for the other shoe to...
  2. Re:Umm... by DarkKnightRadick · · Score: 1, Funny

    whoosh?

    --
    "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)
  3. Re:Umm... by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

    In this case, it's splash!

  4. Re:Wait a minute.... by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 2, Funny

    to be honest, they have dumped and abandoned nuclear weapons in the ocean.
    one plane wont worry the big cheeses

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  5. Re:Great step forward by SEWilco · · Score: 4, Funny

    There are no plans to recover the flight test vehicle

    They can't recover it because it already came back yesterday.
    So the test flight will be a resounding, albeit puzzling, success.

  6. Re:About time..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Or that cheese comes in a can? Wait, what were we talking about again?

  7. Re:Great step forward by phishtahko · · Score: 3, Funny

    A mach here, a mach there and soon you are talking real machs.

    Old McDonald had a scramjet?

  8. Re:About time..... by fishexe · · Score: 2, Funny

    Or that cheese comes in a can? Wait, what were we talking about again?

    Not just any can. A spray can.

    --
    "I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
  9. Re:At least. by fishexe · · Score: 2, Funny

    How long we have been waiting for this? 10, 20 years?

    Maybe you've been waiting that long. Some of us have faithfully adhered to the proverb, "never wait for a scramjet."

    --
    "I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
  10. Re:Great step forward by ZosX · · Score: 3, Funny

    can people live with loud bangs as a routine?

    The evidence where I live (Valencia, Spain; a city addicted to pyrotechnics) is that yes, we can.

    Welcome to hong kong. ;)

    Welcome to my hood!

    --
    zosxavius photography