Posted on 12/19/2022 4:17:16 AM PST by FarCenter
The US has commenced the development of a new intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) hypersonic vehicle, seen by some analysts as the successor to the vaunted SR-71 Blackbird spy plane of Cold War fame.
Last week, The Warzone reported that the US Air Force had awarded Leidos a contract with a US$334 million price ceiling aimed at “delivering a larger class air-breathing hypersonic system capable of executing multiple missions with a standardized payload interface, providing a significant technological advancement and future capability,” as stated in the contract quoted in the report.
It also notes that Leidos shall do work at the Wright-Patterson Air Base and other potential testing sites and is expected to be completed by October 2028 as part of the classified Mayhem program.
The report mentions that the aircraft will be capable of multiple missions, including delivering area effect, unitary payloads, or ISR missions. Furthermore, it says the hypersonic vehicle will be powered by a turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) powerplant scheme.
In a TBCC design, scramjets are used for supersonic or hypersonic flight. Still, these only work well at high speeds, traditionally needing an initial boost from rockets to achieve the required airspeed to function. Using jet engines to provide the initial boost would allow such an aircraft to take off from conventional runways and reach the necessary airspeed for its scramjets to kick in.
However, The Warzone mentions that much is still unknown about the Mayhem project. For example, it is unknown whether the vehicle type will be expendable or reusable as it is being described as somewhere between a hypersonic missile and a full-on hypersonic aircraft.
Despite this ambiguity, it is plausible that the Mayhem project aims to deliver a successor to the Cold War SR-71 spy plane.
(Excerpt) Read more at asiatimes.com ...
I’ll believe it when I don’t see it...
The design looks very familiar, similar to the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) concepts from the early 90s.
Is this the plane from the Top Gun movie and they think it’s real?
Leidos - looks like a spook company. They’re not an aviation company, but a systems integrator. For this small amount of money on a five year contract, it sounds like they’re putting sensor package into an existing aircraft.
Wright Patterson is the tip - it’s where the super secret stuff is born.
Skunk works is where the super secret stuff is born.
Who cares? The USA is great spying; ON US.
Leidos was SAIC until the company split into two publicly traded entities. The spunoff company retained the SAIC name, while Leidos maintained the corporate legacy.
I would not be surprised if aircraft of this capability haven't already been in use for years.
More money for the merchants of death, whether it gets built or not.
Skunk works is where Lockheed MAKES the stuff.
The really spook stuff is created and tested at WP where possible. Why do you think they chatter about skunkworks and Area 51 all the time? Deflection.
Yep. This is almost identical to one of the contractors’ iterations.
SAIC was great to work for when it was employee owned. Went downhill after going public. The split really screwed things. Had 25 years there.
Good luck outrunning an S-500.
The people who know, don’t talk.
The people who talk, don’t know.
No regular US military site is reporting this yet.
I hope your emphasis is on yet.
The inlet will be the biggest challenge.
The air at the face of the turbine engine must be subsonic.
The air for the ramjet must be a minimum of mach 2.5.
Magnum44 ~ Skunk works is where the super secret stuff is born.
A traveling salesman can have more that one wife, and multiple mothers for his children who don't even know each other.
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