The US Air Force is already accelerating the development of a sixth-generation fighter as China ramps up its military. The Air Force is investing $10 billion in the next generation fighter platform over the next five years. This is $2.7 billion more than previously planned, for the Next Generation Air Dominance system, which will likely …
An object that looks like it could be a hypersonic vehicle prototype has appeared in satellite photos. It could also just be an unusual drone. Some commenters think it might only be a racing boat. Based on the other parked cars it looks like the object could be about 25-30 feet long and 15- feet …
Jack O’Banion, Vice President of Strategy and Customer Requirements, Advanced Development Programs for Lockheed Martin, at a presentation said that the SR72 could not have been made without digital transformation. This seems to indicate that a hypersonic vehicle has been built. The SR72 is a mach 6+ hypersonic precision bomber that can also act as …
Reaction Engines has begun construction of a new high-temperature airflow test facility where it plans to validate the performance of its precooler heat exchanger technology, an enabler of its revolutionary SABRETM engine. Located at the Front Range Airport near Watkins, Colorado, the test facility will be capable of exposing the precooler test article (HTX) to …
China is building the world’s fastest wind tunnel to simulate hypersonic flight at speeds of up to 12 kilometers per second (mach 40, 43200 kph, 26843 mph). A hypersonic vehicle flying at this speed from China could reach the west coast of the United States in less than 14 minutes. Zhao Wei, a senior scientist …
China Central Television (CCTV) aired a special talked about the JF-12 hypersonic wind tunnel. This is the largest testing setup of its kind in the world and can produce air speeds up to Mach 9 thanks to its pulse detonation engine. There is also a test shape that looks like the DF-ZF hypersonic vehicle. There …
China plans to launch its reusable spaceplane in 2020, according to a statement from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Unlike traditional one-off spacecraft, the new spacecraft will fly into the sky like an aircraft, said Chen Hongbo, a researcher from the corporation. The spacecraft can transport people or payload into the orbit and return …
Ashley Dove-Jay, PhD researcher in Aerospace Engineering, University of Bristol, analyzed the launch costs of fully reusable Spacex rockets against the also in development Skylon spaceplanes. UPDATE : There is an update on the Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket which should have a 24 hour turnaround with no refurbishment resue and will be reusable about …
Generation Orbit is developing GOLauncher 1. It is an air launched single stage rocket capable of serving microgravity, astrophysics, and hypersonics researchers. GO1 can fly a range of suborbital trajectories including high altitude and suppressed. Multiple payload configurations can accommodate both integrated and recoverable experiments, as well as deployable hardware. Currently in development, the GOLauncher …
The US Air Force will award an engineering, manufacturing and development contract in early fiscal year 2018 to either Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Orbital ATK or Raytheon. Only those companies could produce the weapon within the USAF’s timeframe, according to a 21 July notice of contract action on the US Federal Business Opportunities website. …
The US-Australia Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HiFIRE) program had at least one successful hypersonic flight at Woomera testing range in South Australia last week. A round of experiments concluded on 12 July, confirmed Australian defense minister Marise Payne. UQ hypersonics researchers collaborated with the Defence Science and Technology Group (DST Group) and US Air …