The US Air Force is working with the Pentagon and DARPA to build a new hypersonic aircraft. The plan is to have a vehicle in the air by 2023 that is capable of traveling at speeds in excess of mach 5. It builds on the successful test of an experimental vehicle called the X-51A, which was tested back in 2013.
The X-51A (and the unnamed upcoming military project) was based on a scramjet design. These engines operate at supersonic speeds by taking in and compressing air before injecting fuel and initiating combustion. The flow of air in a scramjet is supersonic all the way through, unlike other air-breathing engines. This allows vehicles powered by scramjets to reach extremely high speeds.
When it was tested in 2013 (seen above), the X51A was mounted to the wing of a B-52H Stratofortress and taken up to 50,000 feet before it was launched. The vehicle exhausted its entire fuel supply in 240 seconds as expected, then crashed into the ocean. During this short flight, it set the record for the longest ever air-breathing hypersonic flight.
The new project is not about simply building another short-range hypersonic vehicle. The military wants something that can fly long distances in extremely short periods of time. A cruise missile, for example, has a top speed of 600 miles per hour, but at mach 5, we’re talking about nearly 4,000 mph. This wouldn’t just be a missile, but more likely a drone of some sort. It could transport equipment, weapons, or sensors anywhere in a few hours. A hypersonic vehicle like the one described could make it from New York to Los Angeles in about 30 minutes. It won’t be carrying people, though. The acceleration would kill you.
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