Air Force 'Hypersonic' Jet Sets New Speed Records

[Doomsday101]

WASHINGTON -- An experimental aircraft has set a record for hypersonic flight.

The Air Force says the X-51A Waverider flew at six times the speed of sound for more than 3 minutes yesterday morning after being released from a B-52 off the southern California coast.

Its scramjet engine accelerated the vehicle to Mach 6, and it flew autonomously for 200 seconds before losing acceleration. At that point the test was terminated.

The Air Force says the previous record for a hypersonic scramjet burn was 12 seconds.

Charlie Brink, an X-51A program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, says researchers equate the leap in engine technology "as equivalent to the post-World War II jump from propeller-driven aircraft to jet engines."

The Waverider was built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and Boeing.


http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/05/27/air-force-hypersonic-jet-waverider-record/

 

[YosemiteSam]

WASHINGTON -- An experimental aircraft has set a record for hypersonic flight.

The Air Force says the X-51A Waverider flew at six times the speed of sound for more than 3 minutes yesterday morning after being released from a B-52 off the southern California coast.

Its scramjet engine accelerated the vehicle to Mach 6, and it flew autonomously for 200 seconds before losing acceleration. At that point the test was terminated.

The Air Force says the previous record for a hypersonic scramjet burn was 12 seconds.

Charlie Brink, an X-51A program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, says researchers equate the leap in engine technology "as equivalent to the post-World War II jump from propeller-driven aircraft to jet engines."

The Waverider was built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and Boeing.


http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/05/27/air-force-hypersonic-jet-waverider-record/

lol. I guess you were posting this while I was trying to find the old scramjet thread to post mine in. :laugh2:

 

[Doomsday101]

lol. I guess you were posting this while I was trying to find the old scramjet thread to post mine in. :laugh2:

It is all about speed. :laugh2:

 

[Hoofbite]

When can we take a ride?

 

[Jon88]

Yeah I'm sure we don't have anything else like that.

There's no telling what kind of secret aircraft and weapons we have.

 

[burmafrd]

Yeah I'm sure we don't have anything else like that.

There's no telling what kind of secret aircraft and weapons we have.

Area 51.

This is just to hide all the projects where the REAL money goes.

 

[Jon88]

Area 51.

This is just to hide all the projects where the REAL money goes.

I've heard all about it.

It's very secretive.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

Yeah I'm sure we don't have anything else like that.

There's no telling what kind of secret aircraft and weapons we have.

You mean like the X-37-B?

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/x-37b-space-plane-orbital-spy-100519.html

Or the X-43-A?

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/x43_launch_040327.html

 

[Jon88]

You mean like the X-37-B?

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/x-37b-space-plane-orbital-spy-100519.html

Or the X-43-A?

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/x43_launch_040327.html

If it's public it's not a secret weapon.

No telling what we have.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

If it's public it's not a secret weapon.

No telling what we have.

I could tell you what we have, but then it wouldn't be a secret no mores. Sorry.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

A video of the X-43-B being test fired. You're not seeing the vehicle itself until it raises out of the floor, so don't be discouraged you aren't seeing anything.

http://video.popularmechanics.com/services/player/bcpid348520180?bctid=348390995

 

[YosemiteSam]

Area 51.

This is just to hide all the projects where the REAL money goes.

Area 51 no longer exists. I'm sure there is some other place now though.