USAF Hypersonic Scramjet Successfully Scrams 201
cold fjord writes "It looks like another milestone for hypersonic flight has been reached. From the story: 'The final flight of the X-51A Waverider test program has accomplished a breakthrough in the development of flight reaching Mach 5.1 over the Pacific Ocean . . ."It was a full mission success," said Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory Aerospace Systems Directorate. The cruiser traveled over 230 nautical miles in just over six minutes over the Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range. It was the longest of the four X-51A test flights and the longest air-breathing hypersonic flight ever. . . This was the last of four test vehicles originally conceived when the $300 million technology demonstration program began in 2004. The program objective was to prove the viability of air-breathing, high-speed scramjet propulsion. The X-51A is unique primarily due to its use of a hydrocarbon fuel in its supersonic combustion ramjet, or Scramjet, engine. ... The use of logistically supportable hydrocarbon fuel is widely considered vital for the practical application of hypersonic flight.'"
Re:longest flight.... (Score:1, Interesting)
Sharks with lasers, etc.... (Score:2, Interesting)
"Mistles", eh?
So now the TLAs are secretly training Mistles [wikipedia.org] to home in on the hated enemy? At least they're a good choice, the poor little bird ranges "over all of Europe and much of Asia. Many northern birds move south during the winter", perhaps this new strain of Avian flu that seems to be affecting a part of Asia is the result of an ongoing proof of concept exercise?
As for conscript armies, ill-trained or otherwise, just consider the use of human wave tactics. In Korea the US and its Allies were technically more advanced, but got pushed back to the current border by the Chinese and North Koreans pouring bodies into the fight. And that war still festers today, still heaving bile some 60 years later. What about 'nam? The casualty phobia engendered by that adventure still has the ability to spook the US. Getting a bit more modern we have the Iran Iraq war in the 80s, both sides threw people into the battlefield like confetti, to little effect. Admittedly they were techinically similar so the death rate was immense without any gain. My point is, you can have the worlds greatest volunteer army and still be overwhelmed by the army of a nation that has a resident population that exceeds your own by 300% or so, controls their media and can afford to soak up the casualties. As far as the US is concerned, there could be no repatriation of the fallen of such a conflict, there would be too many for the organisation to cope with, and a sentimental stay-at-home public would be horrified by the waves of bodies and bits of bodies that would otherwise return. "Some corner of a foreign field", eh?
You say you've been a practicing grunt and know of what you speak; "war is your profession". Well, good for you but you probably don't have the same degree of empathy with your fellow civilians as with your comrades in arms. Its well known that professionals can be blinkered and if we want a military example, the conflict of 1914-18 demonstrates that in spades on both sides. Lets be a little less gung-ho,eh?
Re:Goodness me! Was that a Whooosh? (Score:4, Interesting)
That's probably because they didn't have an effective bomber in that range.
Shall we speak of soldiers raping citizens and massive atrocities against prisoners of war or would you rather close the conversation now and accept your defeat? You're going to claim ethics and try to claim the moral high ground as a Russian? Really? Some of us know our history.
Re:What about the skin temp ? (Score:4, Interesting)
It does mean however that carbon fibre reinforced plastic is probably a very bad idea for the skin while aluminium or titanium are going to conduct surface heat away at a rapid rate. There's going to be a lot of volume compared with the surface area of the leading edges so there's a lot of places for the heat to go.
Re:Goodness me! Was that a Whooosh? (Score:5, Interesting)
I can tell you what happened at the Chinese companies, as I have seen this done before:
"We have a small order we don't really want, but we do not want to insult the person asking for the example by refusing outright. We'll send them something that looks terrible so they pick someone else".
Because frankly, 100.000 fluorescent fixtures is a tiny order for manufacturing that is going on Chinese scale right now. Most will simply not want to take it.