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US jet designed to fly at 6 times speed of sound
Source: Agencies |
October 26, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE last of four unmanned experimental US military aircraft designed to fly at six times the speed of sound is expected to be tested next year, months after its predecessor broke up during a trial.
The third test flight of the craft, known as the Waverider or X-51A, broke apart over the Pacific Ocean seconds into a test flight in August. Preliminary results from an investigation into what went wrong during the flight indicate that a "random vibration issue" caused one of the control fins to deploy early, according to the X-51 program manager at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Charlie Brink.
"I can't say conclusively that's it, but it's looking more and more like the cause," Brink said, adding that investigators quickly ruled out a software or power malfunction as a cause of the jet's break up.
The Waverider was designed to reach speeds six times the speed of sound and fast enough to zoom from New York to London in less than an hour. Analysts say the military has its eye on using the Waverider program to develop missiles with non-nuclear warheads that could strike anywhere in the world within an hour.
Results from the investigation will be complete in mid-December, Brink said.
"I'm fairly confident that in the next couple of months we'll have the investigation complete and we'll move on. We're already preparing the fourth flight vehicle. We're doing those things in parallel," he said.
Engineers are already modifying the final test X-51A to be ready in late spring or early summer of 2013, he said.
The third test flight of the craft, known as the Waverider or X-51A, broke apart over the Pacific Ocean seconds into a test flight in August. Preliminary results from an investigation into what went wrong during the flight indicate that a "random vibration issue" caused one of the control fins to deploy early, according to the X-51 program manager at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Charlie Brink.
"I can't say conclusively that's it, but it's looking more and more like the cause," Brink said, adding that investigators quickly ruled out a software or power malfunction as a cause of the jet's break up.
The Waverider was designed to reach speeds six times the speed of sound and fast enough to zoom from New York to London in less than an hour. Analysts say the military has its eye on using the Waverider program to develop missiles with non-nuclear warheads that could strike anywhere in the world within an hour.
Results from the investigation will be complete in mid-December, Brink said.
"I'm fairly confident that in the next couple of months we'll have the investigation complete and we'll move on. We're already preparing the fourth flight vehicle. We're doing those things in parallel," he said.
Engineers are already modifying the final test X-51A to be ready in late spring or early summer of 2013, he said.
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