Reaction Engines today revealed the start of a new testing campaign to expand the performance envelope of their high-Mach enabling technology through the Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) Program at the Department of Defense and supported by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The FCT Program is administered by the Directorate of Defense Research and Engineering …
General Mark Milley provided the first confirmation of an intercontinental hypersonic weapons test by China this summer. The missile orbited the Earth and had a hypersonic stage that could change direction at speeds over five times the speed of sound. This is not something that can be shot down with current anti-missile technology. Nextbigfuture would …
Australia and the United States signed a collaborative agreement to develop and test hypersonic cruise missile prototypes under the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE). The US hypersonic missile programs seem to be like the SLS (Space Launch System). The US hypersonic missile program and the SLS are not delivering consistently successful tests or …
There are many companies working to develop commercial supersonic planes. There is Boom Technology which has raised $241 million and has may pre-orders from potential customers. United Airlines agreed to purchase 15 Boom Overture aircraft with an option to buy 35 more. They are currently scheduled to begin servicing passengers in 2029. Nextbigfuture has been …
The US Navy will place its first at-sea hypersonic missiles aboard one of the service’s three Zumwalt-class destroyers in four years (by 2025). These will likely be hypersonic warheads on regular vertically launched missiles. Hypersonic warheads can go faster and can move around more than regular warheads. Hypersonic weapons go at 5 times the speed …
The US Congress is looking to spend $6 billion in 2021 for a Pacific Deterrence Initiative which would be funding for operations in the Pacific to counter China. The general in charge of the U.S. Air Force in the Pacific would like to see some of it spent on hypersonic weapons. General Wilsbach has no …
The U.S. Navy plans to put hypersonic missiles on Virginia Attack Submarines, Zumwalt Destroyers and all Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The Conventional Prompt Strike program will provide hypersonic missile capability for faster missiles with longer ranges according to National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. The Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) program was given $278 million in fY2019 …
The US Military Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) will have a first free-flight testing within the calendar year. They are developing critical technologies to enable an effective and affordable air-launched hypersonic cruise missile. Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies have each tested advanced air vehicle configurations that promise to achieve and sustain efficient hypersonic flight. They …
A team led by Fan Xuejun at the Institute of Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a type of scramjet that ran continuously for 600 seconds in a ground test, Weihutang, a program on military affairs affiliated with state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), reported on over the weekend. This broke the …
SpaceX is planning Starship and Raptor engine gigafactories. In 2021, Elon Musk plans to scale the workforce at Boca Chica to 3,000 employees to eventually manufacture two SpaceX starships every week. There are currently 300 employees. This manufacturing rate will be comparable to the speed of construction of commercial wide-body airplanes. Elon has said that …
The US Navy will focus in 2020 on developing hypersonic weapons at breakneck speed and will have hypersonic weapon tests through the year according to the Acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modly. In 2018, Russia claimed to have already deployed hypersonic missile systems. The US Navy plans to demonstrate the Navy-designed Hypersonic Glide Body. …
