Mach 6 Cruise Missile, Ready for Prime Time?

[The Straight Story]

Mach 6 Cruise Missile, Ready for Prime Time?



This spring, the Air Force was preparing for a groundbreaking test of the X-51 WaveRider, a hypersonic cruise missile that would reach speeds of up to Mach 6. But it looks like the WaveRider’s debut flight will have to wait while some technical issues are addressed.

Boeing spokeswoman Christina Kelly confirmed to Danger Room that the test would have to be rescheduled. “We don’t have a firm date,” she said. “It’s going to happen, but it’s just going move to the right.”

The X-51 program is a collaboration between Boeing Phantom Works and engine maker Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to develop a new class of cruise missile that can reach targets much, much faster than current designs. As this Air Force video explains, the X-51 employs scramjet propulsion: It collects air from the atmosphere to mix and burn with its fuel, but unlike a jet, it doesn’t rely on a turbine to do the compression work.

Hypersonic flight was once considered too extreme for an air-breathing vehicle to handle in a controlled way. But as Danger Room’s Noah Schachtman explained in Popular Mechanics a few years back, the X-51’s unique shape uses the shockwaves created by hypersonic flight to create lift, and compress the air to mix with its fuel.

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/03/mach-6-cruise-missile-ready-for-prime-time/#ixzz0hnwT8IFC

[DemoTex]

1. Oh, I bet it is much more accurate too. Faster = better.

:sarcasm:



Targeting an enemy wedding party .. er, I mean command bunker.

[ManiacJoe]

2. You seem to be confusing

the accuracy of the targeting and navigation systems with the human operator's choice of target.