Hypersonic Vehicles/Scramjets

Parthy

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DRDO to invest Rs 1,000 crore in three key projects

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will be investing around Rs 1,000 crore over the next five years in three key programmes at its facility here.

Investment will be made in three sanctioned programmes of the premier defence research agency, Director General of DRDO, V K Saraswat said.

"Around Rs 600 to Rs 650 crore will be spent on missile manufacturing augmentation, Rs 300-Rs 350 crore will be spent on hypersonic wind tunnel programme for testing scramjet engine, which will be six times faster than sound velocity, and the remaining will be invested on RF (radio frequency) testing centre," he said.

Saraswat was speaking to the media on the sidelines of announcement of 'Aviation Conclave' to be held from tomorrow.

The missile augmentation programme had been taken up in collaboration with another defence establishment, Bharat Dynamics Ltd, he said.

http://www.ptinews.com/news/1121875_DRDO-to-invest-Rs-1-000-crore-in-three-key-projects
 

Patriot

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NASA moves X-34s out of storage, considers return to flight status

Two X-planes parked in storage by NASA for nearly 10 years have been moved to a new facility to be inspected for a possible return to flying status, the agency says.

Orbital Sciences Corp will determine whether the X-34s are still viable as technology demonstrators for reusable space vehicles.


Orbital Sciences X-34 spacecraft arrives in Mojave, California, on 16 November after being moved out of storage at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Centre.

Both X-34s have been stored at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center near Palmdale, California since the hypersonic spaceflight programme was cancelled in 2001.

Neither aircraft was flown under its own power before being moved into storage, although one vehicle completed three captive carry tests from an Orbital Sciences-owned Lockheed L-1011.

A NASA contractor moved both X-34's overnight on 16 November, trucking the aircraft with their vertical tails removed from Dryden to a hangar owned by the National Test Pilot school in Mojave, California.






http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/11/19/349997/photos-nasa-moves-x-34s-out-of-storage-considers-return-to-flight.html
 
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CROSS POSTED

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gene...ems In Five Years, DRDO Official Says&prev=10

AW: What is the latest on DRDO's hypersonic technology development vehicle (HSTDV)?

A.C.: HSTDV is getting ready for its first flight test. Ground tests on [the] Scramjet engine have been successful. DRDL has done excellent work in developing this technology. Several new materials, both composite and metallic, are being realized. We are establishing a hypersonic wind tunnel facility in Hyderabad at an investment of Rs 300-400 crore ($66.7 million – $88.9 million) to test various parameters of the HSTDV. We must be able to touch Mach 6-7 for 20 sec. in first flight, and the effort is on for longer duration. It will have to be commercially viable and many technologies will have to evolve. HSTDV is a scale-changer for us.
 
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http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gene...ackswift Hypersonic-Like Plan&channel=defense

USAF Revives Blackswift Hypersonic-Like Plan



The U.S. Air Force is studying a hypersonic road map that calls for development of ambitious high-speed weapons and a high-speed reusable flight research vehicle (HSRFRV), slightly larger than the Darpa-led Blackswift Mach 6 demonstrator canceled in 2008.

Both high-speed elements emerged from a government-industry workshop meeting in Washington Dec. 8-9, and covered development priorities designed to maintain the recent impetus in hypersonics gained with the X-51A WaveRider, X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle and HTV-2 hypersonic test.

The plan, discussed by Steven Walker, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for science, technology and engineering, at the recent AIAA Aerospace Sciences conference in Orlando, Fla., includes parallel development paths toward both hypersonic weapons and the reusable testbed.

The weapons path would be fast-tracked, with development of a demonstrator over five years and first flight by October 2016. Three major options for the demonstrator include an "X-51-like" vehicle that would, like the WaveRider, be air-launched from a B-52. A second option would cover development of a "tactically compliant" high-speed version that could be carried internally by the Northrop Grumman B-2, and externally by the Lockheed Martin F-35. A third option, also involving a B-2/F-35-capable launch, would be an all-new vehicle configuration.

The more advanced element of the road map is Walker's call for a reusable demonstrator incorporating a turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) system, as well as the ability to take off and land on a runway. As with the Blackswift project, the HSRFRV's TBCC will combine a high-Mach turbojet with a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet, the two sharing a common inlet and nozzle.

Unlike Blackswift's TBCC, however, which was designed to power the demonstrator from takeoff to a very short period of 5 min. at Mach 6 cruise and back, the HSRFRV appears to be aimed at more ambitious goals.

Walker says the proposed vehicle will have the capability for up to 15 min. at Mach 4-plus. In addition it will have limited duration at higher Mach numbers. Mindful of the pitfalls that have swallowed up so many previous hypersonic projects, not the least of them the X-30 National Aerospace Plane (NASP), the plan calls for a steady development schedule toward a first flight in October 2021. Walker says: "The team feels if the money is available we can get there."

Speaking to Aviation Week, Air Force Research Laboratory X-51A program manager Charles Brink says "the Air Force, under Steve's leadership, has been doing a good job of herding all the cats, and coming up with a more streamlined, coherent high-speed vehicle road map."

The completion of the X-51A, he says, will provide data that "play into the rules and tools development" for use in future weapon and platform developments. Brink adds that the Air force is aiming to conduct the second attempted flight of the X-51A in late March, having abandoned a potential window this month owing to unavailability of a B-52 launch aircraft.

However, despite converging with national priority development goals outlined by support groups such as the U.S. Hypersonics Industry Team, some have expressed caution over the plan. AIAA President and former Air Force Chief Scientist Mark Lewis believes more emphasis should be placed on building up experience using "weaponized" X-51s.

Speaking to Aviation Week, Lewis says: "The X-51 is an important step toward a potential high-speed weapon. Four flights is too few, and we should put more funding into more flights and build off that platform. To me the logical step is to push out to multiple minutes of flight time—15 and 30 min.—and work toward an operational system. You don't have to have a turbine to do this.

"Be bold, but be realistic in that reach. If not, you risk going back to a NASP-like failure," he warns.
 
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http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Modified_X51A_Waverider_Ready_For_Next_Hypersonic_Test_999.html

Modified X-51A Waverider Ready For Next Hypersonic Test

Air Force engineers currently plan to fly the second X-51A Waverider hypersonic flight test demonstrator as early as March 22, program officials said March 15.

"We are proud of the first flight results, and at the same time we understand the inherent risk in a high-technology demonstrator like the X-51A," said Curtis Berger, the director of the hypersonics programs at Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne, the company that built the X-51A's fuel-cooled supersonic combustion ramjet, or scramjet engine.

"We can't wait to get this second vehicle in the air and show what we can do."

Four X-51As were built for the Air Force by teams at Boeing and Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne. The X-51A made history on its inaugural hypersonic flight test on May 26, 2010, when it was launched from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., tucked under the wing of a B-52 Stratofortress.

After release, it ultimately accelerated to Mach 5 under scramjet power. The flight was about 10 times longer than any previous hypersonic scramjet flight and "80 to 90 percent" of flight test objectives were achieved, program officials said.

Underscoring the complexity and uncertainty of hypersonic flight testing, Charlie Brink, the Air Force Research Laboratory X-51A program manager, noted that not everything went perfectly on the first flight test.

The vehicle failed to accelerate as quickly as anticipated and the flight test had to be terminated after 143 seconds under scramjet power. A perfect flight would have lasted another 100 seconds and accelerated the X-51A cruiser to Mach 6.

After the flight, members of the flight test team independently scoured over telemetry data for a month. Then they conducted a comprehensive "fault tree analysis" to identify every piece of anomalous data to determine the root cause.

According to Mr. Brink, two separate fault trees were identified: The vehicle failed to accelerate as rapidly as expected and unexpected temperatures and pressures were observed in internal sections of the cruiser. Engineers examined and walked through 156 different nodes in excruciating detail in search of a cause.

"In a demonstrator you learn things," Mr. Brink said.

Program officials already knew from wind tunnel engine tests about the intense heat the scramjet engine and hypersonic flight creates. During flight, the scramjet engine actually grows about three-fourths of an inch. The effect complicates design for such things as interface seals.

The Boeing "Phantom Works" and Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne teams pulled the engines from the three remaining flight test vehicles and focused on the interface between the rear of the fuel-cooled engine and its vehicle mounted nozzle. Mr. Brink said the effort identified an "apparent thermal seal breach" at the interface which was not as tight as it needed to be. This caused some of the hot gases that should have provided thrust to leak into the rear of the cruiser.

"We went through a complete critical design review of the interface," Mr. Brink said.

In the end, the team made design changes to make it a "much more robust" interface. All of the remaining X-51As have been modified with the new beefed up design.

Mission and weather permitting, a B-52 test crew will take off March 16 from the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB and the flight test team will run through a dress rehearsal for the entire flight profile for the next hypersonic mission, albeit without the X-51A attached.

The second X-51 is waiting in a hangar at Edwards AFB and is ready to fly, Mr. Brink said. He added the next flight is scheduled for March 22 over the Navy's Point Mugu Sea Range but a number of factors with the flight-test vehicle, weather, range availability, and supporting test assets could slip the flight date to the right.

Mr. Brink said officials at the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency and at NASA have been critical to the X-51A's development. Those at DARPA provided substantial funding and NASA officials provided strong support via access to their wind tunnels at Langley Research Center and to the supercomputer at NASA Ames Research Center where computational fluid dynamics calculations of drag and other aerodynamic forces were performed.

Mr. Brink said the computations were validated during the first hypersonic test, coming in within 2 percent of actual data observed during the first flight. NASA Dryden aircrews also provide photo and safety chase during the flight tests.

He noted the X-51A was not designed to be a weapon, but its success as a technology demonstrator soon may enable the transition of technologies to a new class of hypersonic weapon systems. He added that there are a number of initiatives in the works, but none had been decided upon and there currently is no program of record for a hypersonic strike or ISR aircraft based upon the Waverider.

"Right now we are just focused on the X-51's next flight," Mr. Brink said. "We definitely hope it will go longer...and faster than the first."
 
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http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/02/15/india-plans-hypersonic-vehicle-tests-early-year/

India Plans Hypersonic Vehicle Tests By Early Next Year

DRDO likely to test fly hypersonic plane by early next year
Brahmand.com

DRDO expects to test fly India’s indigenous hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle (HSDTV) by early next year, the defence agency’s Chief V K Saraswat said Friday.

“We have conducted ground testing of the vehicle for nearly 20 seconds. It has performed well. We are hopeful to flight test it by early next year at Mach 6-7 speed,” Saraswat told reporters during Aero India 2011"¦

The highly ambitious HSDTV programme involves the development of a hypersonic plane that would travel six to seven times faster than the speed of sound. It would attain autonomous scramjet flight for 20 seconds, using a solid rocket launch booster.

While the stated objective of the programme is to reduce the cost of putting payloads in outer space, it could eventually lead to India building a highly powerful hypersonic cruise missile system for its defence forces
 
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Second Hypersonic Flight Ends Prematurely, Brings New Flight Test Data

Second Hypersonic Flight Ends Prematurely, Brings New Flight Test Data

A second test of the X-51A Waverider flew June 13, 2011, in the Point Mugu Naval Air Test Range over the Pacific Ocean, bringing significant hypersonic research data in a less than successful flight test. The hypersonic aircraft was successfully boosted to just over Mach 5, and the scramjet engine lit but failed to transition to full power.

Air Force Flight Test Center officials said after a flawless flight from Edwards Air Force Base, a U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress released the experimental vehicle from an altitude of approximately 50,000 feet. After release the X-51A was initially accelerated by a solid rocket booster to a speed just over Mach 5.

The experimental aircraft's air breathing scramjet engine lit on ethylene and attempted to transition to JP7 fuel operation when the vehicle experienced an inlet un-start.

The hypersonic vehicle attempted to restart and oriented itself to optimize engine start conditions but was unsuccessful. The vehicle continued in a controlled flight orientation until it flew into the ocean within the test range.

According to Charlie Brink, the Air Force Research Laboratory's X-51A program manager, AFRL, Boeing and Pratt-Whitney Rocketdyne engineers are reviewing the large amount of telemetry data collected during the test flight to identify the cause of the anomaly.

"Obviously we're disappointed and expected better results," said Mr. Brink, "but we are very pleased with the data collected on this flight. I am extremely pleased with the AFFTC and Point Mugu's support and execution of this complex flight test mission, as they provided us every opportunity for success in this endeavor. We have attempted two scramjet experiments now where one successfully lit, and one did not.

"We will continue to examine the data to learn even more about this new technology," he said. "Every time we test this new and exciting technology, we get that much closer to success."

Boeing and Pratt-Whitney Rocketdyne built four X-51A flight test vehicles with the program goal of reaching Mach 6 in hypersonic flight. The next flight is tentatively schedule for fall 2011.
 
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US hypersonic glider launched - Yahoo! News


US hypersonic glider launched

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An experimental unmanned hypersonic glider has been launched from an air base on the central California coast.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency used Twitter to announce the launch Thursday from Vandenberg Air Force Base 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

A rocket carried the agency's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 to the edge of space, where it separated from the booster to maneuver through the atmosphere at 13,000 mph. Minutes into the flight, the agency said the mission was on track in its glide phase. The mission will end with a plunge into the ocean.

A similar vehicle was launched last year and returned nine minutes of data before contact was prematurely lost.
The U.S. military is trying to develop technology to respond to threats around the globe at speeds of Mach 20 or greater.
 
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Contact lost with hypersonic glider after launch

Contact lost with hypersonic glider

It was the second of two planned flights

Updated: Thursday, 11 Aug 2011, 12:31 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 11 Aug 2011, 10:57 AM EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An unmanned hypersonic glider developed for U.S. defense research into super-fast global strike capability was launched atop a rocket early Thursday but contact was lost after the experimental craft began flying on its own, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said.

There was no immediate information on how much of the mission's goals were achieved.

It was the second of two planned flights of a Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2. Contact was also lost during the first mission.

The small craft is part of a U.S. military initiative to develop technology to respond to threats at 20 times the speed of sound or greater, reaching any part of the globe in an hour.

The HTV-2 is designed to be launched to the edge of space, separate from its booster and maneuver through the atmosphere at 13,000 mph before intentionally crashing into the ocean.

DARPA used Twitter to announce the launch and status of the flight.

The agency said the launch of the Minotaur 4 rocket was successful and separation was confirmed. It next reported that telemetry had been lost.

No further details were immediately reported. There was no immediate response to an email request to DARPA for information on the mission.

The HTV-2 is intended to put theory, simulations and wind tunnel experience to the test in real flight conditions at speeds producing temperatures in the thousands of degrees and requiring extremely fast control systems, according to DARPA.

The first HTV-2 was launched on April 22, 2010. It returned nine minutes of data, including 139 seconds of aerodynamic data at speeds between 17 and 22 times the speed of sound, DARPA said.

That craft detected an anomaly, aborted its flight and plunged into the ocean, the agency said.
 

asianobserve

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A very public debacle yet again for the US. Why do they keep on posting their tests live for the public? Wouldn't it be more parctical if they just announce later on their success and keep mum on their failures?
 

sanjay

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A very public debacle yet again for the US. Why do they keep on posting their tests live for the public? Wouldn't it be more parctical if they just announce later on their success and keep mum on their failures?
But that's ridiculous - the public has a right to know. Why keep the failures hidden, when they too are costing their taxpayers money?

When ISRO failed on the GSLV launch, everyone at least got to see that failure. No sense keeping it hidden, and having a false sense of security and confidence. When the public sees the failure and shares in it, then our reaction helps to guide the govt in its response.
 

asianobserve

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The tests should be top secret for security reasons... Not everything that a government does should be shared with the public (world).
 

ace009

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As usual - any deadline set by DRDO is stretchable - why am I NOT surprised that this project is running behind schedule too?
 

Pintu

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As usual - any deadline set by DRDO is stretchable - why am I NOT surprised that this project is running behind schedule too?
ace, I think this is ISRO's project rather than DRDO's.

Regards
 

SPIEZ

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As usual - any deadline set by DRDO is stretchable - why am I NOT surprised that this project is running behind schedule too?
Dude no offense, But do you know how hard it is to actually build something. Cut DRDO some slack too, afterall everything they eventually bring out (which is world class) gets rejected by our army itself :|
 

utubekhiladi

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As usual - any deadline set by DRDO is stretchable - why am I NOT surprised that this project is running behind schedule too?
trees do not bear fruits upon your urgency, it takes time. considering the loose change and pennies that we spend on R&D while others spend on Billions, i think DRDO has done a fair amount of job so far.
 
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Many projects have side projects that maybe happening at the same time. The recent news of Shaurya block 2 flying at MACH 7.5 must be intertwined with this project ??
 

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Computers will fight our battles.

Computers will fight our battles.
Nov 09, 2011 at 03:57pm IST

BANGALORE: "We must dream of a Mach 8-10 capable reusable cruise missile by 2016-2020, which have stealth capabilities and will deliver the payload at hypersonic speeds before returning to base," said former president and eminent missile scientist A P J Abdul Kalam. Addressing a gathering at the inauguration of the Centre for Excellence in High Speed Aerodynamics in the Indian Institute of Science Campus (IISc) here on Tuesday, he stated his vision of a reusable missile which would bring down the level of danger a pilot faces.

The Centre has been set up by BrahMos Aerospace in association with the IISc. Dr Pillai, BrahMos, gave a broad overview of the centre and stated that it will concentrate on Hypersonic research. "The aim is to consolidate all research being made in this field and this centre will attempt to do that," he said. He added that the BrahMos 2 would look at indigenous engines and also underwater operations.

Kalam, later addressed another gathering at the inauguration of the Robert Bosch Centre for Research in Cyber Physical Systems, where he touched upon future trends in warfare and automotives. "Convergence is the future of warfare. Computers will fight our battles hence future soldiers must undergo virtual training."

"You must also concentrate on developing fuel injection systems which can incorporate biofuels, this is the option we all will have to move to eventually," the former President said.

Computers will fight our battles: Kalam - IBN South - IBN Bangalore - ibnlive
 

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