What is the speed of 5 m. Hypersonic war is frightening with uncertainty. Excerpt characterizing Hypersonic speed

On February 6, 1950, during another test, the Soviet jet fighter MiG-17 in horizontal flight exceeded the speed of sound, accelerating to almost 1070 km / h. This turned it into the first mass-produced supersonic aircraft. Developers Mikoyan and Gurevich were clearly proud of their brainchild.

For combat flights, the MiG-17 was considered near-sonic, since its cruising speed did not exceed 861 km / h. But this did not stop the fighter from becoming one of the most widespread in the world. At various times, he was in service with Germany, China, Korea, Poland, Pakistan and dozens of other countries. This monster even took part in the fighting in the Vietnam War.

The MiG-17 is far from the only representative of the supersonic aircraft genre. We will tell you about a dozen more air liners that also surpassed the sound wave and became famous all over the world.

Bell X-1

The US Air Force specially equipped the Bell X-1 with a rocket engine, as they wanted to use it to study the problems of supersonic flight. On October 14, 1947, the device accelerated to 1541 km / h (Mach 1.26), overcame the predetermined barrier and turned into a star in the sky. Today, the record-breaking model rests in the Smithsonian Museum in the States.

Source: NASA

North American X-15

The North American X-15 is also powered by rocket engines. But, unlike its American counterpart Bell X-1, this aircraft reached a speed of 6167 km / h (Mach 5.58), becoming the first and for 40 years the only manned hypersonic aircraft in the history of mankind (since 1959) who performed suborbital manned space flights. With its help, even the reaction of the atmosphere to the entrance of winged bodies into it was studied. In total, three units of Kh-15 rocket gliders were produced.

Source: NASA

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

It is a sin not to use supersonic aircraft for military purposes. Therefore, the US Air Force designed the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a strategic reconnaissance aircraft with a maximum speed of 3,700 km / h (Mach 3.5). The main advantages are fast acceleration and high maneuverability, which allowed him to evade missiles. Also, the SR-71 was the first aircraft to be equipped with technologies for reducing radar signature.

A total of 32 units were built, 12 of which crashed. Removed from service in 1998.

Source: af.mil

MiG-25

We cannot but recall the domestic MiG-25 - a supersonic high-altitude fighter-interceptor of the 3rd generation with a maximum speed of 3000 km / h (Mach 2.83). The plane was so cool that even the Japanese were coveting it. Therefore, on September 6, 1976, Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko had to hijack a MiG-25. After that, for many years in many parts of the Union, planes began to refuel not to the end. The goal is to prevent them from reaching the nearest foreign airport.

Source: Alexey Beltyukov

MiG-31

Soviet scientists did not stop working for the air good of the fatherland. Therefore, in 1968, the design of the MiG-31 began. And on September 16, 1975, he first visited the sky. This two-seater supersonic all-weather long-range interceptor fighter accelerated to a speed of 2500 km / h (Mach 2.35) and became the first fourth generation Soviet combat aircraft.

The MiG-31 is designed to intercept and destroy air targets at extremely low, low, medium and high altitudes, day and night, in simple and difficult weather conditions, with active and passive radar jamming, as well as false thermal targets. Four MiG-31s can control airspace up to 900 kilometers long. This is not an airplane, but the pride of the Union, which is still in service with Russia and Kazakhstan.

Source: Vitaly Kuzmin

Lockheed / Boeing F-22 Raptor

The most expensive supersonic aircraft was built by the Americans. They modeled a fifth-generation multi-role fighter that became the most expensive among their colleagues. The Lockheed / Boeing F-22 Raptor is currently the only fifth-generation fighter in service and the first production fighter with a supersonic cruising speed of 1890 km / h (Mach 1.78). The maximum speed is 2,570 km / h (Mach 2.42). Until now, no one has surpassed him in the air.

Source: af.mil

Su-100 / T-4

Su-100 / T-4 ("weaving") was developed as a fighter for aircraft carriers. But the engineers of the Sukhoi Design Bureau managed not only to achieve their goal, but to simulate a cool strike-reconnaissance bomber-missile carrier, which they later wanted to use even as a passenger aircraft and an accelerator for the Spiral aerospace system. The maximum speed of the T-4 is 3200 km / h (Mach 3).

This week, the third test flight of the American hypersonic aircraft (GLA) X-51 AWaveRider, a prototype of a promising rocket, took place. However, 15 seconds after launch, even before the main engine began to operate, the WaveRider lost control and fell into the ocean.

The previous test, which took place last year, also failed - the accelerator, which accelerates the vehicle to the speed required to start the main engine, did not work on time and did not separate. However, earlier, in 2010, the engine of the "machine" managed to work 200 seconds (it was planned 300), accelerating the device to five speeds of sound (5M). The duration of its operation, thus, three times exceeded the previous record set by the Russian / Soviet hypersonic flying laboratory (HLL) "Kholod". At the same time, unlike the domestic apparatus, the "American" did not use hydrogen as fuel, but aviation kerosene.

The current failure will undoubtedly slow down the US hypersonic program, on which $ 2 billion was spent. However, this does not negate the fact that the United States already has a key technology for this program - a working prototype of a hypersonic jet engine (scramjet).

Potentially, such engines are capable of accelerating the aircraft up to 17 speeds of sound on hydrogen and up to 8 on hydrocarbon fuel. However, for it to work, it is necessary to achieve stable combustion of fuel in a supersonic air stream - which, according to one of the developers, is no easier than keeping a match lit in the epicenter of a hurricane. However, not so long ago it was believed that when using hydrocarbon fuel this is in principle impossible, and the only suitable fuel for a scramjet engine is an explosive one, which creates operational difficulties and "swells" the volumes of fuel tanks due to the low density of hydrogen. Nevertheless, since 2004, a number of relatively successful tests of aircraft, both hydrogen and "kerosene" ones, have been carried out in the West.

What is the practical meaning of the $ 2 billion program? The design speed of the X-51 is 7M (about 7 thousand km / h for an altitude of 20 km), the design range is 1600 km, and the flight altitude is about 25 km. In other words, in terms of "range" it roughly corresponds to the BGM-109 "Tomogavk" cruise missile (1600 km, with a nuclear warhead - 2500 km) or an intermediate-range ballistic missile - for example, removed from service under the INF Treaty Pershing-2 ( 1770 km). What are the advantages of a "wave flight" in comparison with "competitors"?

BGM-109 has a subsonic speed of 880 km / h. Thus, the flight to the maximum range takes about two hours. During this time, the missile can be detected and destroyed, and the target can move. Of course, a cruise missile flying at an altitude of about 60 m above the ground and having a low radar signature due to its size is a very problematic target for air defense. However, there are also known successful examples of the defense of attacked objects from "Tomahawks" - for example, the Iraqi nuclear center during the "Desert Storm".

A ballistic missile with a range of the same order has an average speed of about 10,000 km / h. However, firstly, the "ballistics" can be detected from space already at the moment of launch - the impressive torch from the working rocket engines is quite clearly visible. Secondly, the maximum trajectory height of ballistic missiles with such a range is close to 400 km, so they are rather early "lit up" on missile defense radars. Thirdly, "ballistics" are non-maneuvering targets, which makes it possible to intercept them even by anti-aircraft missiles aiming at the lead point. In general, with the modern development of missile defense systems, a medium-range ballistic missile is a rather vulnerable target.

At the same time, ballistic missiles are a phenomenally ineffective delivery vehicle in terms of the ratio of launch mass and payload. Chemical rocket engines combine enormous thrust with even more monstrous gluttony, and ballistic flights are, in principle, energy-intensive. As a result, for example, "Pershing-2" with a launch weight of 7.4 tons carried a warhead of 399 kg. For comparison - "Tomahawks" carry almost the same amount with a dead weight of about one and a half tons.

Now let's compare with hypersonic missiles. The speed and flight time, in general, are comparable to those of the Pershing-2. At the same time, the X-51, firstly, uses a much more economical air-jet engine. Secondly, it does not climb to an altitude of 400 km, "informing" about its presence to all the surrounding missile defense radars. Thirdly, it is able to actively maneuver. Note that, as shown by tests carried out in 2007 by the Swedish SaabBofors, at speeds of 5.5 M, difficult maneuvers are possible even in dense layers of the atmosphere. As a result, WaveRider interception is possible only if the interceptor is noticeably superior to the latter in speed and maneuverability. There are simply no such interceptors now.

The existing missile defense systems are also unable to deal with X-51 class hypersonic missiles. At the same time, even in the case of a fundamental possibility of destruction, the high speed of the target sharply reduces the interception zone.

In other words, the WaveRider combines an approach time comparable to medium-range ballistic missiles with much less visibility and virtual invulnerability against modern air defense / missile defense. Meanwhile, at one time the leadership of the USSR went to great lengths to remove the Pershing from Europe, exchanging them for a much larger number of their own medium-range missiles - and for good reason. The 8-10 minute flight time of American missiles turned them into an almost ideal means of disarming and "decapitating" strikes - those who were attacked simply did not have time to respond. In the case of bringing the X-51 to the series, the situation will be reproduced in a deteriorated version - despite the fact that the creation of nuclear versions of "waves" is quite possible.

At the same time, the use of GPRVD is not limited to medium-range vehicles. On the one hand, according to the NATO Space Research and Development Advisory Group (AGARD), scrumjets can be widely used in purely tactical short-range systems - these are anti-tank missiles (also designed to destroy fortifications), air-to-air missiles and small-caliber missiles ( 30-40 mm) shells for hitting air targets. Another likely direction is the use of scramjet in anti-missiles designed to intercept ballistic missiles at the initial stage of the trajectory.

On the other hand, the use of hypersonic technologies can lead to the emergence of fundamentally new classes of strategic systems. The most conservative option is to use hypersonic vehicles as "maneuvering warheads" for traditional ballistic missiles.

Note that a long-range ballistic missile is not very vulnerable in the middle section of the trajectory (since it is surrounded by a huge number of light false targets, dipole reflectors and jammers), but it is vulnerable at the initial and final sections of the trajectory (light false targets are eliminated by the atmosphere itself, as a result, the warhead is accompanied only by a small amount of heavy LC). At the same time, both the warhead and its "retinue" are a set of non-maneuvering ballistic targets, which radically facilitates the task of missile defense. However, a high-speed and maneuvering "machine" with a scramjet engine is practically invulnerable to the current air defense and missile defense systems. As a result, by combining a classic ICBM with a hypersonic maneuvering warhead, it is possible to achieve a reliable breakthrough of the corresponding echelon of antimissile defense.

In other words, we are talking about a technology that can really make a revolution in military affairs. The hypersonic threat will inevitably become a reality in the very foreseeable future.

In January, a significant event took place: the club of owners of hypersonic technologies was replenished with a new member. China on January 9, 2015 tested a hypersonic glider (glider) called WU-14. It is a guided vehicle that is mounted on top of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The rocket lifts the glider into space, after which the glider dives at the target, developing a speed of thousands of kilometers per hour.

According to the Pentagon, the Chinese WU-14 hypersonic device can be installed on various Chinese ballistic missiles with a firing range of 2,000 to 12,000 km. During the January tests, the WU-14 developed a speed of 10 M - more than 12.3 thousand km / h. Modern air defense systems are not able to reliably hit a maneuvering target flying at such a speed. Thus, China has become the third country, after the United States and Russia, with the technology of hypersonic carriers of nuclear and conventional weapons.

Hypersonic glider HTV-2 is separated from the upper stage (USA)

The United States and China are working on similar hypersonic glider designs that get an initial acceleration by ascending to a high altitude using a launch vehicle and then accelerating during a controlled descent from high altitudes. The advantages of such a system are a long range (up to a global strike at any point on the Earth's surface), a relatively simple glider device (no propulsion engine), a large warhead mass and a high flight speed (more than 10 M).

Russia is focused on developing hypersonic ramjet (scramjet) missiles that can be launched from the ground, ships or combat aircraft. There is a Russian-Indian project to develop such weapons systems, so by 2023 India may also enter the "hypersonic club". The advantage of hypersonic missiles is that they are less expensive and more flexible than gliders launched with ICBMs.

Experimental hypersonic rocket with scramjet X-51A WaveRider (USA)

Both types of hypersonic weapons can carry conventional or nuclear warheads (CW). Specialists of the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy have calculated that the kinetic energy of the impact of a hypersonic warhead (without a high-explosive or nuclear warhead) with a mass of 500 kg and a speed of 6 M in terms of the damage caused is comparable to the detonation of a warhead of a conventional AGM-84 Harpoon subsonic missile equipped with a warhead with explosives weighing about 100 kg. This is only a quarter of the firepower of the Russian anti-ship missile P-270 Mosquito with explosives weighing 150 kg and a speed of 4 M.

It would seem that hypersonic weapons are not much superior to the existing supersonic ones, but everything is not so simple. The fact is that ballistic missile warheads are easily detected at a great distance and fall along a predictable trajectory. And although their speed is enormous, modern computer technology has made it possible to intercept warheads during the descent phase, as the American missile defense system demonstrates with varying success.

At the same time, hypersonic aircraft approach the target along a relatively flat trajectory, stay in the air for a short time and can maneuver. In most scenarios, modern air defense systems are not able to detect and hit a hypersonic target in a short period of time.

A hypersonic rocket with a speed of 6 M will fly the distance from London to New York in just 1 hour

Modern anti-aircraft missiles simply will not be able to catch up with a hypersonic target, for example, an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system can accelerate to a speed of 7.5 M, and then only for a short period of time. Thus, a target with a speed of about 10 M will be too tough for it in most cases. In addition, the destructive power of hypersonic weapons can be increased through the use of a cluster warhead: high-speed shrapnel made of tungsten "nails" can disable an industrial facility, a large ship, or destroy a congestion of manpower and armored vehicles over a large area.

The proliferation of hypersonic weapons capable of penetrating any air defense system raises new questions of ensuring global security and military parity. If an equilibrium deterrence is not achieved in this area, as in the case of nuclear weapons, hypersonic strikes can turn into a common pressure tool, because just a few hypersonic warheads can destroy the economy of a small country.

According to the Pentagon's calculations, the American program of a rapid global strike using hypersonic weapons will make it possible to hit any target anywhere in the world without radiation contamination of the area within an hour. Even in the event of a nuclear conflict, the system can partially replace nuclear weapons, hitting up to 30% of targets.

Thus, members of the "hypersonic club" will be able to almost guaranteed to destroy objects of critical infrastructure of the enemy, for example, power plants, army command posts, military bases, large cities and industrial facilities. According to experts' calculations, 10-15 years are left before the appearance of the first serial samples of hypersonic weapons, so there is still time for the development of political agreements limiting the use of such weapons in local conflicts. If such agreements are not reached, there is a high risk of even larger humanitarian disasters associated with the use of new weapons.

General information

Flight at hypersonic speed is part of the supersonic flight regime and is carried out in a supersonic gas flow. Supersonic air flow is fundamentally different from subsonic and the dynamics of aircraft flight at speeds above the speed of sound (above 1.2 M) is fundamentally different from subsonic flight (up to 0.75 M, the speed range from 0.75 to 1.2 M is called transonic speed ).

Determination of the lower limit of the hypersonic speed is usually associated with the onset of the processes of ionization and dissociation of molecules in the boundary layer (BL) near the apparatus, which moves in the atmosphere, which begins to occur at about 5 M. Also, this speed is characterized by the fact that a ramjet engine (" Ramjet ") with subsonic combustion of fuel (" SPVRD ") becomes useless due to the extremely high friction that occurs when braking the passing air in an engine of this type. Thus, in the hypersonic range of speeds to continue the flight, it is possible to use only a rocket engine or a hypersonic ramjet engine (scramjet engine) with supersonic fuel combustion.

Flow characteristics

While the definition of hypersonic flow (HF) is rather controversial due to the lack of a clear boundary between supersonic and hypersonic flows, HF can be characterized by certain physical phenomena that can no longer be ignored when considering, namely:

Thin layer of shock wave

As the velocity and the corresponding Mach numbers increase, the density behind the shock wave (SW) also increases, which corresponds to a decrease in volume behind the shock wave due to the conservation of mass. Therefore, the shock wave layer, that is, the volume between the vehicle and the SW, becomes thin at high Mach numbers, creating a thin boundary layer (BL) around the vehicle.

Formation of viscous shock layers

Part of the large kinetic energy contained in the air flow at M> 3 (viscous flow) is converted into internal energy due to viscous interaction. An increase in internal energy is realized in an increase in temperature. Since the pressure gradient normal to the flow within the boundary layer is approximately zero, a significant increase in temperature at high Mach numbers leads to a decrease in density. Thus, the PS on the surface of the vehicle grows and, at high Mach numbers, merges with a thin layer of the shock wave near the bow, forming a viscous shock layer.

The appearance of waves of instability in PS, which are not characteristic of sub- and supersonic flows

High temperature flow

The high-speed flow at the frontal point of the vehicle (point or area of stagnation) causes the gas to heat up to very high temperatures (up to several thousand degrees). High temperatures, in turn, create non-equilibrium chemical properties of the flow, which consist in dissociation and recombination of gas molecules, ionization of atoms, chemical reactions in the flow and with the surface of the apparatus. Under these conditions, the processes of convection and radiative heat transfer can be significant.

Similarity parameters

It is customary to describe the parameters of gas flows by a set of similarity criteria that allow us to reduce an almost infinite number of physical states into similarity groups and which allow comparing gas flows with different physical parameters (pressure, temperature, velocity, etc.) with each other. It is on this principle that experiments in wind tunnels and the transfer of the results of these experiments to real aircraft are based, despite the fact that in pipe experiments the size of models, flow velocities, thermal loads, etc. can differ greatly from the modes of real flight, at the same time, similarity parameters (Mach, Reynolds, Stanton numbers, etc.) correspond to flight ones.

For trans- and supersonic or compressible flow, in most cases such parameters as the Mach number (the ratio of the flow velocity to the local speed of sound) and Reynolds number are sufficient for a complete description of the flows. For a hypersonic stream, these parameters are often insufficient. First, the equations describing the shape of the shock wave become practically independent at speeds of 10 M. Second, the increased temperature of the hypersonic flow means that the effects related to imperfect gases become noticeable.

Taking into account the effects in a real gas means more variables that are required to fully describe the state of the gas. If a stationary gas is fully described by three quantities: pressure, temperature, heat capacity (adiabatic index), and a moving gas is described by four variables, which also includes velocity, then a hot gas in chemical equilibrium also requires equations of state for its constituent chemical components, and a gas with processes dissociation and ionization must also include time as one of the variables of its state. In general, this means that at any given time for a nonequilibrium flow, 10 to 100 variables are required to describe the state of the gas. In addition, the rarefied hypersonic flow (HF), usually described in terms of Knudsen numbers, does not obey the Navier-Stokes equations and requires modification. HP is usually categorized (or classified) using total energy expressed using total enthalpy (mJ / kg), total pressure (kPa) and stagnation temperature (K) or velocity (km / s).

Ideal gas

In this case, the passing air flow can be considered as an ideal gas flow. The GP in this regime is still dependent on the Mach numbers and the simulation is guided by temperature invariants, and not by the adiabatic wall, which occurs at lower speeds. The lower boundary of this area corresponds to speeds of about 5 M, where SPVRMs with subsonic combustion become ineffective, and the upper boundary corresponds to speeds in the region of 10-12 M.

Ideal gas with two temperatures

It is part of the case of a high velocity ideal gas flow regime in which the passing air flow can be considered chemically ideal, but the vibrational temperature and the rotational gas temperature must be considered separately, resulting in two separate temperature patterns. This is of particular importance in the design of supersonic nozzles, where vibration cooling due to the excitation of molecules becomes important.

Dissociated gas

Beam transport dominance mode

At speeds above 12 km / s, heat transfer to the vehicle begins to occur mainly through radial transfer, which begins to dominate over thermodynamic transfer along with an increase in speed. Gas modeling in this case is divided into two cases:

optically thin - in this case, it is assumed that the gas does not reabsorb the radiation that comes from its other parts or selected units of volume;
optically thick - where the absorption of radiation by the plasma is taken into account, which is then re-emitted, including to the body of the apparatus.

Modeling optically thick gases is a challenging task, since, due to the calculation of radiative transfer at each point in the flow, the volume of calculations grows exponentially with the number of points considered.

Notes (edit)

Links

Anderson john Hypersonic and High-Temperature Gas Dynamics Second Edition. - AIAA Education Series, 2006 .-- ISBN 1563477807
NASA's Guide to Hypersonics.

An ordinary passenger plane flies at a speed of about 900 km / h. A military jet fighter can reach about three times the speed. However, modern engineers from the Russian Federation and other countries of the world are actively developing even faster machines - hypersonic aircraft. What is the specificity of the respective concepts?

Hypersonic aircraft criteria

What is a hypersonic aircraft? As such, it is customary to understand an apparatus capable of flying at a speed many times higher than that for sound. Researchers' approaches to determining its specific indicator differ. There is a widespread methodology according to which an aircraft should be considered hypersonic if it is multiples of the speed indicators of the fastest modern supersonic vehicles. Which are about 3-4 thousand km / h. That is, a hypersonic aircraft, if you adhere to this methodology, should develop a speed of 6 thousand km / h.

Unmanned and guided vehicles

Researchers' approaches may also differ in terms of determining the criteria for classifying a particular vehicle as an aircraft. There is a version that only those machines that are controlled by humans can be classified as such. There is a point of view according to which an unmanned vehicle can also be considered an aircraft. Therefore, some analysts classify machines of the type under consideration into those that are subject to human control and those that function autonomously. Such a division can be justified, since unmanned aerial vehicles can have much more impressive technical characteristics, for example, in terms of congestion and speed.

At the same time, many researchers consider hypersonic aircraft as a single concept for which speed is the key indicator. It doesn't matter whether a person is sitting at the helm of the aircraft or the car is controlled by a robot - the main thing is that the plane is fast enough.

Takeoff - independent or with outside help?

A widespread classification of hypersonic aircraft is based on assigning them to the category of those that are capable of taking off on their own, or those that involve placement on a more powerful carrier - a rocket or a cargo plane. There is a point of view according to which it is legitimate to refer to the vehicles of the type under consideration mainly those that are capable of taking off on their own or with minimal involvement of other types of equipment. However, those researchers who believe that the main criterion for characterizing a hypersonic aircraft - speed, should be paramount in any classification. Whether it is the classification of the device as unmanned, controlled, capable of taking off on its own or with the help of other machines - if the corresponding indicator reaches the above values, then we are talking about a hypersonic aircraft.

The main problems of hypersonic solutions

Hypersonic concepts are decades old. Throughout the years of development of the corresponding type of apparatus, world engineers have been solving a number of significant problems that objectively prevent the production of "hypersound" from being put on stream - just like organizing the production of turboprop aircraft.

The main difficulty in the design of hypersonic aircraft is the creation of an engine capable of being sufficiently energy efficient. Another problem is building the necessary apparatus. The fact is that the speed of a hypersonic aircraft in those values that we considered above implies a strong heating of the body due to friction against the atmosphere.

Today we will consider several examples of successful prototypes of aircraft of the corresponding type, the developers of which were able to make significant progress in terms of successfully solving the noted problems. Let us now study the most famous world developments in terms of creating hypersonic aircraft of the type under consideration.

by Boeing

The fastest hypersonic aircraft in the world, according to some experts, is the American Boeing X-43A. So, during testing of this device, it was recorded that it reached a speed in excess of 11 thousand km / h. That is about 9.6 times faster

What is so special about the X-43A hypersonic aircraft? The characteristics of this aircraft are as follows:

The maximum speed recorded in tests is 11,230 km / h;

Wingspan - 1.5 m;

Body length - 3.6 m;

Engine - ramjet, Supersonic Combustion Ramjet;

Fuel - atmospheric oxygen, hydrogen.

It can be noted that the device in question is one of the most environmentally friendly. The fact is that the fuel used practically does not imply the release of harmful combustion products.

The X-43A hypersonic aircraft was developed jointly by NASA engineers, Orbical Science Corporation and Minocraft. was created for about 10 years. About $ 250 million was invested in its development. The conceptual novelty of the aircraft in question is that it was conceived with the aim of testing the latest technology for ensuring the operation of propulsion thrust.

Development from Orbital Science

Orbital Science, which, as we noted above, took part in the creation of the X-43A apparatus, also managed to create its own hypersonic aircraft - the X-34.

Its top speed is over 12 thousand km / h. True, in the course of practical tests, it was not achieved - moreover, it was not possible to achieve the figure shown by the X43-A aircraft. The aircraft under consideration is accelerated when the Pegasus rocket, operating on solid fuel, is activated. The X-34 was first tested in 2001. The aircraft in question is significantly larger than the device from Boeing - its length is 17.78 m, the wingspan is 8.85 m. The maximum flight altitude of the hypersonic machine from Orbical Science is 75 kilometers.

Aircraft from North American

Another famous hypersonic aircraft is the X-15, manufactured by North American. This apparatus of analysts is referred to as experimental.

It is equipped, which gives some experts a reason not to classify it, in fact, as an aircraft. However, the presence of rocket engines allows the device, in particular, to perform So, during one of the tests in this mode, it was tested by pilots. The purpose of the X-15 apparatus is to study the specifics of hypersonic flights, evaluate certain design solutions, new materials, and control features of such machines in various layers of the atmosphere. It is noteworthy that it was approved back in 1954. The X-15 flies at a speed of over 7 thousand km / h. The range of its flight is more than 500 km, the height exceeds 100 km.

The fastest production aircraft

The hypersonic vehicles studied by us above actually belong to the category of research ones. It will be useful to consider some production samples of aircraft that are close in characteristics to hypersonic ones or are (according to one methodology or another) them.

Among these machines is the American development SR-71. Some researchers are not inclined to attribute this aircraft to hypersonic, since its maximum speed is about 3.7 thousand km / h. Among its most notable characteristics is the take-off weight, which exceeds 77 tons. The length of the apparatus is more than 23 m, the wingspan is more than 13 m.

One of the fastest military aircraft is the Russian MiG-25. The device can reach speeds of over 3.3 thousand km / h. The maximum take-off weight of the Russian aircraft is 41 tons.

Thus, the Russian Federation is among the leaders in the market of serial solutions that are close in characteristics to hypersonic ones. But what about Russian developments in "classic" hypersonic aircraft? Are engineers from the Russian Federation able to create a solution that is competitive with the machines from Boeing and Orbital Scence?

Russian hypersonic vehicles

The Russian hypersonic aircraft is currently under development. But it is going quite actively. We are talking about the U-71 aircraft. Its first tests, judging by media reports, were carried out in February 2015 near Orenburg.

It is assumed that the aircraft will be used for military purposes. So, a hypersonic device will be able, if necessary, to deliver destructive weapons over considerable distances, monitor the territory, and also be used as an element of assault aviation. Some researchers believe that in 2020-2025. the Strategic Missile Forces will receive about 20 aircraft of the corresponding type.

There is information in the media that the considered hypersonic aircraft of Russia will be placed on the Sarmat ballistic missile, which is also at the design stage. Some analysts believe that the developed Yu-71 hypersonic apparatus is nothing more than a warhead, which will have to be separated from a ballistic missile in the final phase of the flight, so that then, thanks to the aircraft's high maneuverability, it will overcome missile defense systems.

Project "Ajax"

Among the most notable projects related to the development of hypersonic aircraft is the Ajax. Let's study it in more detail. The Ajax hypersonic aircraft is a conceptual development of Soviet engineers. In the scientific community, talk about it began in the 80s. Among the most notable features is the presence of a thermal protection system, which is designed to protect the case from overheating. Thus, the developers of the device "Ajax" have proposed a solution to one of the "hypersonic" problems we have outlined above.

The traditional scheme of thermal protection of aircraft involves the placement of special materials on the body. The developers of "Ajax" proposed a different concept, according to which it was supposed not to protect the device from external heating, but to let heat into the machine, while simultaneously increasing its energy resource. The main competitor of the Soviet apparatus was considered the hypersonic aircraft "Aurora", created in the United States. However, due to the fact that the designers from the USSR significantly expanded the possibilities of the concept, the widest range of tasks was entrusted to the new development, in particular, research. We can say that "Ajax" is a hypersonic multipurpose aircraft.

Let's consider in more detail the technological innovations proposed by engineers from the USSR.

So, the Soviet developers of "Ajax" proposed to use the heat generated as a result of the friction of the aircraft body against the atmosphere, to convert it into useful energy. Technically, this could be realized by placing additional shells on the device. As a result, something like a second building was formed. Its cavity was supposed to be filled with some kind of catalyst, for example, a mixture of combustible material and water. The heat-insulating layer made of solid material in "Ajax" was supposed to be replaced by a liquid layer, which, on the one hand, was supposed to protect the engine, on the other hand, it would promote a catalytic reaction, which, meanwhile, could be accompanied by an endothermic effect - heat transfer parts of the body inward. In theory, the cooling of the outer parts of the apparatus could be anything. Excess heat, in turn, was supposed to be used in order to increase the efficiency of the aircraft engine. At the same time, this technology would make it possible to generate, due to the reaction, fuels and types of free hydrogen.

At the moment, there is no information available to the general public about the continuation of the development of "Ajax", but the researchers consider it very promising to introduce Soviet concepts into practice.

Chinese hypersonic vehicles

China is becoming a competitor to Russia and the United States in the hypersonic market. Among the most famous developments of engineers from the PRC is the WU-14 aircraft. It is a hypersonic guided airframe mounted on a ballistic missile.

An ICBM launches an aircraft into space, from where the machine dives sharply downward, developing hypersonic speed. The Chinese device can be mounted on different ICBMs with a range of 2 to 12 thousand km. It was found that during the tests, the WU-14 was able to reach speeds in excess of 12 thousand km / h, thus becoming the fastest hypersonic aircraft according to some analysts.

At the same time, many researchers believe that the Chinese development is not entirely legitimate to refer to the class of aircraft. So, the version is widespread, according to which the device should be classified precisely as a warhead. Moreover, it is very effective. When flying down at the marked speed, even the most modern missile defense systems will not be able to guarantee the interception of the corresponding target.

It can be noted that Russia and the United States are also engaged in the development of hypersonic vehicles used for military purposes. At the same time, the Russian concept, according to which it is supposed to create machines of the corresponding type, differs significantly, as evidenced by the data in some media, from the technological principles implemented by the Americans and the Chinese. So, developers from the Russian Federation are concentrating efforts in the field of creating aircraft equipped with a ramjet engine that can be launched from the ground. Russia plans to cooperate in this direction with India. Hypersonic vehicles created according to the Russian concept, according to some analysts, are characterized by lower cost and a wider field of application.

At the same time, the hypersonic aircraft of Russia, which we mentioned above (Yu-71), assumes, as some analysts believe, just the same placement on ICBMs. If this thesis turns out to be true, then it will be possible to say that engineers from the Russian Federation work simultaneously in two popular conceptual directions in the construction of hypersonic aircraft.

Summary

So, probably the fastest hypersonic aircraft in the world, if we talk about aircraft, whatever their classification, it is still the Chinese WU-14. Although you need to understand that real information about him, including those related to tests, can be classified. This is consistent with the principles of Chinese developers, who often strive to keep their military technologies secret at all costs. The speed of the fastest hypersonic aircraft is over 12 thousand km / h. The American development X-43A is "catching up" with it - many experts consider it to be the fastest. Theoretically, the X-43A hypersonic aircraft, as well as the Chinese WU-14, can catch up with the development from Orbical Science, designed for a speed of more than 12 thousand km / h.

The characteristics of the Russian U-71 aircraft are not yet known to the general public. It is quite possible that they will be close to the parameters of the Chinese aircraft. Russian engineers are also developing a hypersonic aircraft capable of taking off not on the basis of an ICBM, but on its own.

The current projects of researchers from Russia, China and the United States are in one way or another related to the military sphere. Hypersonic aircraft, regardless of their possible classification, are considered primarily as carriers of weapons, most likely nuclear. However, in the works of researchers from different countries of the world there are theses that "hypersound", like atomic technologies, may well be peaceful.

The point is the emergence of affordable and reliable solutions that allow organizing the mass production of machines of the corresponding type. The use of such devices is possible in the widest range of branches of economic development. The greatest demand for hypersonic aircraft is likely to be found in the space and research industries.

As the technology for the production of the corresponding machines becomes cheaper, transport businesses may begin to show interest in investing in such projects. Industrial corporations, providers of various services may begin to consider "hypersound" as a tool to increase the competitiveness of business in terms of organizing international communications.