X-51A WaveRider
The U.S. Air Force X-51A WaveRider vehicle successfully made its first captive-carry flight under the wing of a B-52 carry aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base, California over the weekend.
"This was a great day for the program," said Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager, Air Force Research Laboratory. "The early look is we successfully captured all of our test points without any anomalies. I'm really proud of the AFRL, Air Force Flight Test Center and the Boeing/Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne teams' efforts to move us toward the big event."
The X-51A is expected to demonstrate hypersonic flight up to six times the speed of sound in test flights beginning early next year. The aircraft is designed to fly longer "hypersonically" than any other previous design.
A captive-carry flight, in which a test vehicle is attached to and carried by another aircraft, is a common approach for testing a new type of aircraft before it flies on its own. During test flight, the B-52 took off heading north, climbed to 50,000 feet and performed gentle maneuvering.
The X-51A program is a collaborative effort of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), The Boeing Company and Pratt & Whitney. It is powered by a PW Rocketdyne.
George Thum, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne X-51A program manager, says the flight "keeps the X-51A team on track for a major breakthrough in propulsion technology and the realization of scramjet powered flight."
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