USAF X-51A WaveRider
X-51 with Scramjet Engine
Underdevelopment since 2005 this missile has a variety of uses from spy plane to dropping huge payloads even nuclear capability.
Unlike conventional weapons planes have to be flown long distances and take hours to get to their target. This new technology delivers a payload anywhere on earth within 60 to 90 minutes and can be launched from the United States. The rocket is reusable making it cost effective. See more details below...
The WaveRider aboard a B-52 Bomber (photo Dec 11, 2009)
X-51 developed by the United Sates Air Force (USAF)-
The Boeing X-51 is a scramjet aircraft for hypersonic flight (Mach 7, around 8,050 km/h). Testing has all ready begun on the X-51 WaveRider program and is a consortium of the U.S. Air Force, DARPA, NASA, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne because it has multiple sue potential.
The program is managed by the Propulsion Directorate within the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
The X-51 is a descendant of earlier efforts including the Advanced Rapid Response Missile Demonstrator and the liquid hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet engine developed under the USAF’s HyTech program. The scramjet flight test vehicle was designated X-51 on 27 September 2005.
The X-51 is carried aloft by a B-52 bomber and then launched with the aid of a solid rocket booster.
DARPA had viewed X-51 as a stepping stone to Blackswift, a planned hypersonic demonstrator that was canceled in October 2008.
Since many rockets that carry nuclear warheads like those being developed by Iran are solid fuel they can be fueled in an hour. The X-51 is so quick it can respond and destroy such rockets before they are launched.
Nothing has ever been developed that flies so fast within the earth's atmosphere.
Underdevelopment since 2005 this missile has a variety of uses from spy plane to dropping huge payloads even nuclear capability.
Unlike conventional weapons planes have to be flown long distances and take hours to get to their target. This new technology delivers a payload anywhere on earth within 60 to 90 minutes and can be launched from the United States. The rocket is reusable making it cost effective. See more details below...
The WaveRider aboard a B-52 Bomber (photo Dec 11, 2009)
X-51 developed by the United Sates Air Force (USAF)-
The Boeing X-51 is a scramjet aircraft for hypersonic flight (Mach 7, around 8,050 km/h). Testing has all ready begun on the X-51 WaveRider program and is a consortium of the U.S. Air Force, DARPA, NASA, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne because it has multiple sue potential.
The program is managed by the Propulsion Directorate within the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
The X-51 is a descendant of earlier efforts including the Advanced Rapid Response Missile Demonstrator and the liquid hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet engine developed under the USAF’s HyTech program. The scramjet flight test vehicle was designated X-51 on 27 September 2005.
The X-51 is carried aloft by a B-52 bomber and then launched with the aid of a solid rocket booster.
DARPA had viewed X-51 as a stepping stone to Blackswift, a planned hypersonic demonstrator that was canceled in October 2008.
Since many rockets that carry nuclear warheads like those being developed by Iran are solid fuel they can be fueled in an hour. The X-51 is so quick it can respond and destroy such rockets before they are launched.
Nothing has ever been developed that flies so fast within the earth's atmosphere.
