#aerospace #aviation #waverider #boeing The X-51A WaveRider unmanned hypersonic aircraft flew the longest scramjet-powered hypersonic flight in history on 1 May, according to a statement from Boeing.
A US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress from Edwards Air Force Base released the experimental X-51A from 50,000ft. After launch, a solid rocket booster accelerated the aircraft to approximately Mach 4.8 before the booster and a connecting stage jettisoned.
Boeing says the vehicle reached Mach 5.1 powered by its scramjet engine, which burned all of its JP-7 jet fuel. The X-51A then made a controlled dive into the Pacific Ocean at the conclusion of its 6min test. The trial fulfilled all mission objectives, according to Boeing. The flight was the fourth X-51A test flight completed for the US Air Force
Research Laboratory. It exceeded the previous record set by the programme in 2010.
“We are ecstatic to have accomplished most of our test points on the X-51A’s very first hypersonic mission,” said Charlie Brink, an X-51A programme manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory.
“We equate this leap in engine technology as equivalent to the post-World War II jump from propeller-driven aircraft to jet engines.”