By Marina Malenic
The Air Force decided yesterday not to launch a hypersonic vehicle for a planned four-minute test flight out of Edwards AFB, Calif.
An Air Force Flight Test Center B-52 bomber departed Edwards carrying the X-51A shortly before 9 a.m. Pacific Time and flew as planned to the designated launch area over the Navy Point Mugu Sea Range, according to an Air Force spokesman.
“Test controllers opted to not initiate the test since all required test conditions could not be met,” the spokesman said via e-mail.
He did not specify which conditions were not met.
The next test attempt will be scheduled following “a check of the system and when range and test assets can again be aligned,” the spokesman added.
The X-51 WaveRider reached Mach 5 when it flew for the first time in May 2010–at 143 minutes the longest flight of a supersonic combustion ramjet engine, or scramjet (Defense Daily, May 28, 2010).
Boeing [BA] and Pratt & Whitney’s Rocketdyne unit are the contractors for the project. Pratt & Whitney is a division of United Technologies [UTX].
Pentagon officials have said they are studying the use of hypersonic weapons in applications such as Prompt Global Strike, a precision missile that could hit any target on earth within two hours. Officials have said there are no plans yet to weaponize the X-51.
The program has produced four Waverider test vehicles and has $250 million in funding. The government’s contract with Boeing and Pratt & Whitney is worth $220 million.
Hypersonic speed describes velocities upward of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.