DARPA FALCON Project

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Illustration of the Hypersonic Test Vehicle (HTV) 2 upon re-entry

The DARPA FALCON Project ( F orce A pplication and L aunch from Con tinental United States ) was a two-part project of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Air Force (USAF). The project was part of the US military program Prompt Global Strike ( PGS ).

Part of the program was aimed at developing a reusable, rapid- strike Hypersonic Weapon System (HWS). A more recent name was Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV). The other part was developing a launch system that would be able to accelerate an HCV to cruising speed and launch small satellites into orbit. The two-part program was announced in 2003.

Another project announced as part of the Falcon project was an unmanned aircraft, the HTV-3X "Blackswift". The Blackswift should have taken off from a runway and accelerated to Mach 6. A letter of intent was signed in September 2007. The Blackswift did not get the funding it needed and was canceled in October 2008. Another project in the FALCON program was the X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV), a common air platform for hypersonic ICBMs , cruise missiles , space shuttles and launch vehicles .

A prototype of the Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) was tested for the first time on April 22, 2010, followed by a further test on August 11, 2011. Both tests were terminated early.

In 2013 the decision was made to end the program.

Design and development

Dyna-Soar

Previous projects

The goal has always been to develop an aircraft that could reach any point on earth from the continental United States within an hour or two. Dyna-Soar was the first public program in 1957 in which an aircraft took off vertically on a rocket and glided back to earth, similar to the space shuttle , instead of taking off from a runway. Originally, the shuttle was intended as part of a USAF operation, and separate military launch facilities were built at Vandenberg AFB at great expense, but never used. Spacecraft were kept secret under the public Dyna Soar program from 1957 to 1963. In the mid-1960s, the CIA began work on a supersonic spy plane called Project Isinglas .

FALCON

The overarching FALCON program was announced in 2003 and had two main components: on the one hand, a small launcher that was supposed to bring payloads into orbit, and on the other hand, the hypersonic weapon itself.

According to Henry F. Cooper , director of the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars") under President Reagan , the spacecraft project cost $ 4 billion in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (excluding the space shuttle). This does not include the funds for Dynasoar in the 1950s and 1960s, ISINGLASS, Rheinberry and all space glider projects of the 21st century. He told Congress in 2001 that all the United States got in exchange for the billions of dollars was "four aging shuttles, a crashed vehicle, a source of spare parts, and some glide test bodies and exhibits." Others argue that with FALCON, which was allocated $ 170 million for the 2008 budget year, and its predecessors, the United States was given the opportunity to develop a spacecraft should the need arise.

Launcher

In the first phase of the DARPA FALCON program in 2003, the development work on the vehicle was put out to tender. The winning companies should build a launcher and test it. In November 2003, companies that won the first phase of development were awarded contracts ranging from $ 350,000 to $ 540,000:

Hypersonic weapon system

The first phase for the development of the hypersonic weapon system was won by three bidders in 2003, each receiving a contract for $ 1,200,000 to $ 1,500,000 for the development of a hypersonic vehicle.

Lockheed Martin won the only Phase 2 HWS contract in 2004 to further develop technologies and reduce the program's technology risk.

After the hypersonic program

After the phase 2 contract, DARPA and the US Air Force continued the development of the hypersonic aircraft platform.

As part of the program, a number of flight tests were carried out on aircraft using hypersonic technology.

The FALCON project included:

  • X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV): a locked up development project for ICBMs and cruise missiles, but also space shuttles and launch vehicles.
  • Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 1 (HTV-1): a test concept that was originally supposed to be started in September 2007 has been canceled
  • Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2): flew for the first time on April 22, 2010, but radio contact was lost after the booster was disconnected.
  • HTV-3X Blackswift, now canceled.
  • Small Launch Vehicle (SLV): a smaller engine with the power of CAVs, completed.

The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV) would be capable of flying 9,000 nautical miles (16,668 km) in two hours with a payload of 5,500 kg. It is said to rise very high and reach speeds of up to Mach 20.

Blackswift

The Blackswift was a planned aircraft designed to fly hypersonic speed. It was developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works , Boeing and Alliant Techsystems .

The USAF stated that the “Blackswift demonstration aircraft is powered by a combination of gas turbine and ramjet engine. The engine accelerates the aircraft to around Mach 3 before the ramjet takes over and accelerates the aircraft to Mach 6. ”Stephen Walker, Deputy Director of the Tactical Technology DARPA Office, coordinated the project. He is quoted on the USAF website as follows:

"I'll also be communicating with Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney about the importance of having a technical plan ... I'm trying to get a bridge to the beginning of the program - to get the lines of communication flowing."

The Falcon program had announced the horizontal launch of the Blackswift / HTV-3X. A launch of the HTV-2 on the tip of a rocket booster was also planned. With the development of a hypersonic aircraft, the Falcon program approached the goal of being able to reach anywhere in the world in an hour or two from a runway in the USA.

In October 2008, it was announced that HTV-3X Blackswift would not receive the 2009 defense budget and was therefore canceled. The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle program will now continue with less funding.

Flight tests

Flight test trajectories for HTV 2a and 2b

DARPA built two HTV-2s that were tested in 2010 and 2011. The Minotaur IV Lite rocket is the booster for the HTV-2 with Vandenberg Air Force Base as its launch site. DARPA wanted to demonstrate the thermal protection system and aerodynamic control options on the flights. The test flights were supported by NASA, the Space and Missile Systems Center , Lockheed Martin, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Air Vehicles and Space Vehicles directorates.

The first HTV-2 was tested on April 22, 2010. The HTV-2 aircraft flew 4,800 miles (7,700 km) across the Pacific to Kwajalein at Mach 20. The launch was successful, but the first mission did not complete as planned. According to reports, contact with the plane was lost nine minutes after takeoff.

A second test was carried out on August 11, 2011. The unmanned Falcon HTV-2 was successfully disconnected from the booster and went into the glide phase, but contact was lost again nine minutes after its planned 30-minute Mach 20 glide flight. According to initial reports, a crash was initiated as a precautionary measure.

Flight tests of related hypersonic aircraft

On November 17, 2011, there was a successful test flight of the hypersonic glider AHW (Advanced Hypersonic Weapon), which was launched with rockets from Hawaii. The destination was the Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands . The AHW has a shorter range than the HTV-2 and is also part of the Prompt Global Strike program.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ US looks for answers after hypersonic plane fails . space-travel.com, August 12, 2011.
  2. ↑ Darpa refocuses Hyper Sonic Research on Tactical Missions. In: Aviaton Week. July 8, 2013, accessed June 3, 2019 .
  3. ^ Isinglass in the Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed on November 21, 2011 (English).
  4. ↑ a b USAF / DARPA FALCON Program ( Memento from August 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ ON SPACEPLANES AND X VEHICLES ( Memento of July 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). Testimony by Henry F. Cooper to the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science ; October 11, 2001
  6. ^ US hypersonic aircraft projects face change as Congress urges joint technology office by Graham Warwick in Washington, DC; dated May 30, 2006
  7. ↑ a b c First Minotaur IV Lite launches from Vandenberg ( Memento from April 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). U.S. Air Force, April 22, 2010
  8. ↑ US hypersonic glider flunks first test flight ( memento from January 24, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ). AFP news agency, March 27, 2010.
  9. ^ Propulsion, Materials Test Successes Put Positive Spin on Falcon Prospects ( Memento April 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) by Guy Norris; dated Jul 22, 2007
  10. ↑ Boeing Joins Lockheed Martin On Blackswift ( Memento April 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) by Graham Warwick / Hartford, Conn .; by Jul 24, 2008
  11. ↑ DARPA official: AEDC 'critical' to hypersonics advancement ( Memento from April 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) by Philip Lorenz; dated May 17, 2007
  12. ↑ a b Mach 20 or Bust from Geoffrey Little Air & Space magazine, September 2007
  13. ↑ VIDEOS: DARPA cancels Blackswift hypersonic test bed by Stephen Trimble Washington DC; dated October 13, 2008
  14. ↑ New Minotaur rocket launches on suborbital flight by Stephen Clark; by April 23, 2010
  15. ↑ Plane's flameout may end space weapon plan by Shaun Waterman; dated July 22, 2010
  16. ^ Pentagon to test 2nd near-space strike craft by Shaun Waterman; dated November 25, 2010
  17. ^ Pentagon successfully tests hypersonic flying bomb ; dated Nov 17, 2011