Third X-51A Hypersonic Test Targeted For Mid-August

August 06, 2012

ATLANTA — U.S. Air Force officials say the third, and possibly final, attempt to reach or exceed sustained speeds beyond Mach 5 with the X-51A hypersonic demonstrator is set for Aug. 14.
Describing the X-51A as “the key to the next step in hypersonics,” Air Force Research Laboratory Aerospace Systems Director Doug Bowers says that even the mixed success of the initial X-51A flights has proved invaluable to advancing the state-of-the-art. Speaking at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Joint Propulsion Conference earlier this week, Bowers said, “The first X-51 was mostly a success, the second flight was a hung store [failed to release from the B-2 mothership] and on the third the inlet started but un-started. Every flight test we’ve had has been a learning opportunity, and until we took it to flight we really didn’t know the unknowns.”


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