X-51A Hyper-sonic Flight Test a Failure

Flight test of the unmanned X-51A apparently ended in failure, another setback in the Air Force and NASA’s attempt to build a hyper sonic jet.

Technology needed to achieve a decades-old dream: rocket-speed flight with an air-breathing engine. But  test by the Air Force of the X-51A unmanned hyper sonic test vehicle resulted in a crash before it could start its engine. 

The X-51A program is a joint project of the Air Force, DARPA, and NASA, with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne supplying the scramjet engine and Boeing providing the airframe. According to a statement released today by the Air Force, it was this airframe—specifically, a control fin—that failed soon after the vehicle separated as planned from beneath the wing of a B-52 over the Pacific Ocean. A rocket booster attached to the X-51A blasted the vehicle up to speed, but the faulty control fin sent the vehicle spinning out of control before the scramjet engine could be ignited. “All our data showed we had created the right conditions for engine ignition, and we were very hopeful to meet our test objectives,” said Charlie Brink, the Air Force Research Laboratory program manager in charge of the project, in the statement