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The fourth and final X-51A Waverider test missile was launched from a B-52 bomber mothership above the Pacific a few days ago. This time the test was successful and it marks a new era in the ability of the u.s to hit targets anywhere in the world almost immediately.
During the test the X-51 A managed not only to successfully get its jet burning on JP-7 hydrocarbon fuel but maintain the burn for the full planned duration of boost – perhaps as much as five minutes – to achieve hypersonic speeds above Mach 5.
The X-51A demonstrator can’t light up until air is being shoved into its intakes at high speed, so after falling off its B-52 carrier it is initially accelerated by a modified missile-boost rocket which then falls off. Once at ignition speed, the scramjet is lit up initially using volatile ethylene. Then once it is burning hot, it transitions to using JP-7.
That’s the idea, anyway. Unfortunately all three previous X-51A flights have gone wrong.
According to aviation Week X-51A is thought to have experienced positive acceleration to speeds in excess of Mach 5 and run for the full duration of the planned powered phase of the test
It was hoped that the X-51A would break Mach 6, but even so this does sound like the most successful test to date. We’ll just have to wait and see what the US Air Force has to say for itself once it’s ready to go public.
i-HLS ISRAEL Homeland Security
The development has a long way to go but the aim is very clear –
The idea is that the US president would be able, on hearing of someone or something urgently needing to be blown up before it disappeared or moved (terrorist chief, weapon-o-mass-destruction etc) would order the launch of a speedy hypermissile or hyperplane which would get to the target much more quickly than a normal weapon could. But even the speediest scramjet would be unlikely to be as fast as a ballistic missile hurtling around the world outside the atmosphere, and it would be a simple matter – compared to inventing hypersonics – to put a conventional warhead on an ICBM. So the prompt-strike mission doesn’t really call for any new technology.
Many have argued that an ICBM launch, even if notified as a conventional one, might somehow trigger a nuclear war: but that doesn’t make much sense. Space launches (which could easily be a mask for ballistic nuke attacks) happen all the time, as do firings of cruise missiles (which can easily have nuclear warheads) and indeed flights by strategic bombers (which can also carry nukes without trouble) – and nobody panics and starts a nuclear war.
