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Air Force Sets Date To Fly Mach-6 Scramjet
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."
What makes this interesting is the speculation surrounding the SR-91 Aurora. Due to treaties between the US and (at the time) USSR the SR-71 Blackbird had to be retired because manned intelligence flights were against the terms of the treaty.
Of course the treaty didn't say anything about unmanned flights and this is where the SR-91 comes into it. This *might* be a picture of a SR-91. The cockpit makes me wonder what I'm looking at, if it can be piloted/unpiloted. I don't know for sure. Kudos to Yankee engineering though, it looks fast.
The scramjet powering the test aircraft is one thing aside, the avionics to remotely control something this fast is what I'm interested in. The B2 bomber was criticised for being so far over budget but it would be if two aircraft that share control system technology were being developed. Both would have inputs to computer controller flight surfaces. The game of subterfuge in military craft is fascinating especially when it the politicians that wear the heat for a failure that is actually, secretly, a success. I know, it's all speculation.
I reason that this might include deliberately understating the capabilities of craft such as this. The SR-71 engines are reported as most efficient at mach 3.5 but that doesn't indicate top speed - which is probably still classified - and the SR-91 (that officially doesn't exist) which may cruise somewhere between mach 3-6 reveals a lot about how quickly intelligence gathering about any part of the world can be done. Say a rough estimate of any part of the world within 3 hours, maybe there are things that just can't be done with a satellite?
It says much about the intelligence capability that the US doesn't readily advertise, and where that capability (that doesn't officially exist) is going when a prototype vehicle is aiming for Mach 6. Kudos for the Univerity of Queensland to for getting the first test engine going.
Personally - I just like fast planes ;-)
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Not particularly, no. Why should I?