Global Security Newswire

The U.S. Air Force on Thursday intends to test a developmental hypersonic drone aircraft as part of an initiative to provide the United States with the ability to deliver conventional warheads to any location across the globe in just minutes, the Los Angeles Times reported (see GSN, March 3).

The X-51 WaveRider is remotely piloted and is designed to deliver warheads with heavy explosive payloads with precision. It has a potential speed of up to 4,000 mph. The flight test planned for Thursday would send system over the Pacific Ocean.

The experimental aircraft has had one flight test to date, in May 2010 when it was released midair from the wing of a B-52 strategic bomber not from from Point Mugu in California. The 14-foot system dropped for roughly four seconds before a booster rocket engine activated and shot the X-51 to an altitude above 70,000 feet. The rocket engine then detached and the X-51 continued its flight for more than two minutes, building to a speed of roughly 3,500 mph.

The test was judged a success as the lengthiest previous hypersonic flight stopped at about 10 seconds.

"That flight made believers out of skeptics," Air Force X-51 program manager Charlie Brink said. "It allowed us to say, 'If you want to hit objects very quickly and from long distances, here's an option.'"

The test, however, did not meet the Air Force's goals of keeping the system in flight for five minutes and reaching a top speed of 4,000 mph. A design problem was determined to have caused the shortfall.

The hypersonic aircraft was developed for the contract price of $250 million, but the Defense Department has allocated additional millions of dollars attempting to acquire a prolonged flight capability of five times the speed of sound.

"In fiscal year 2012, we will begin weaponizing the X-51 research vehicle," Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science Stephen Walker informed Congress earlier this month.

The Pentagon is pursuing a "prompt global strike" capability that would offer a non-nuclear alternative for quickly eliminating threats such as a chemical weapons stockpile, a ballistic missile being readied for firing or a terrorist in transit.

"They are designed to go faster and farther than anything that's out there," GlobalSecurity.org Director John Pike said. "Technology like this avoids the possibility of getting into a fair fight" with an antagonist.

There are concerns, though, that some possible global strike systems could be misconstrued as a nuclear attack, leading another state to launch an atomic response (W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times, March 24).