“Demonstrating the reuse of fully recoverable hypersonic test vehicles is an important step for Mach-TB,” said George Rumford, director of the Resource Management Center test, in a press release. “Lessons learned from this test campaign will help us reduce the period of execution of vehicles from month to weeks.”
Krevor said that Talon-A had launched several experiences on each mission, but had not offered any details on the nature of the useful charges, citing owner reasons and customer agreements.
“We cannot disclose the nature of these useful expenses, apart from saying typical materials, instruments, sensors, etc.,” he said. “Customers were delighted with their ability to recover the useful charges shortly after landing.”
Stratolanch finished the first propelled flight of a Talon -A vehicle last year, when the rocket aircraft launched on the peaceful ocean and pulled its Hadley engine powered by liquid – produced by Ursa Major – for about 200 seconds. The Talon-A1 vehicle accelerated a little shy from hypersonic speed, then fell into the sea as planned and was not recovered.
This prepared the land for the first flight of Talon-A2 in December.
Military officials previously declared that they have set up the Mach-TB program to allow more frequent flight tests for hypersonic weapons technologies, including communication, navigation, advice, sensors and researchers. Stratolanch is targeting monthly flights from the Talon-A rocket aircraft by the end of the year and finally wants to increase weekly flights.
“These flights are now preparing the ground to increase the rate of hypersonic flight tests in this country,” said Krevor. “The possibility of having an entirely reusable hypersonic flight architecture allows a very high rate of flight as well as a lot of responsiveness. The DOD can call Stratolanch if there is a priority program, and we can have a hypersonic flight next week, by assuming the preparation of all other useful technologies and charges. ”
Pentagon officials in 2022 have set a goal to grow the American capacity for hypersonic tests from 12 to 50 flight tests per year. Krevor thinks that Stratolanch will play a key role in the realization.
Catch -up
So why are hypersonic flight tests important?
The Pentagon seeks to close what it considers a technological gap with China, which American officials recognize have become the world leader in the development of hypersonic missiles. Hypersonic weapons are more difficult than conventional missiles for air defense systems to detect, follow and destroy. Unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic weapons roll at the top of the atmosphere, improving their maneuverability and their ability to escape interceptors.
Hypersonic flight is a ruthless environment. Temperatures outside the Talon-A vehicle can reach up to 2,000 ° Fahrenheit (1,100 ° Celsius) while the plane penetrates through air molecules, Krevor said. He refused to disclose the duration, top speed and the maximum altitude of December and March test flights, but said that the rocket aircraft had made a series of “high-G” maneuvers in the journey of its fall location in Vandenberg.
