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LOS ANGELES (AP) — An unmanned experimental aircraft failed during an attempt to fly at six times the speed of sound in the latest setback for hypersonic flight. The X-51A Waverider was designed to reach Mach 6, or 3,600 mph, after being dropped by a B-52 bomber off the Southern California coast on Tuesday. Engineers hoped it would sustain its top speed for five minutes, twice as long as an X-51A has gone before. But the Air Force said Wednesday that a faulty control fin prevented it from starting its exotic scramjet engine and it was lost.

It may look like a vehicle the Thunderbirds would travel in, but in fact this experimental aircraft could be the future of long haul flights. It uses a revolutionary 'scramjet' engine that allows it to travel at hypersonic speeds. Tomorrow, it will be dropped from a B52 bomber in its latest test. The craft, called the X-51A Waverider, is currently being prepared at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert. Tomorrow, it will take part in a key test. Attached to a B-52 bomber's wing, it will be taken from Edwards to about 50,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean...

Boeing's X-51 WaveRider has made aviation history by completing the longest ever supersonic* combustion ramjet-powered flight. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flew for almost three and a half minutes in the skies off the southern California coast on Wednesday, reaching an altitude of about 70,000 feet and hitting hypersonic (Mach 5) speeds. The X-51 WaveRider scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is being developed for the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) by Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. The goal of the program is to create a free-flying, scramjet-powered vehicle capable of operating continuously on...

On Wednesday morning, a US Air Force X-51A Waverider missile sustained speeds of Mach 5 for more than 200 seconds, the US Air Force has announced. The X-51A Waverider, which was launched over the southern California coast, is powered by next-gen scramjet technology.

The US Air Force on Wednesday test launched a hypersonic cruise missile, with the vehicle accelerating to Mach 6 before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, officials said. The Air Force said the test flight of the X-15A Waverider lasted more than 200 seconds, the longest ever hypersonic flight powered by scramjet propulsion. The previous record was 12 seconds in a NASA X-43 vehicle. "We are ecstatic to have accomplished most of our test points on the X-51A's very first hypersonic mission," Charlie Brink, program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. "We...

The U.S. Air Force is gearing up for the first of four planned test flights of a hypersonic aircraft designed to operate for much longer durations and cover far greater distances than previous platforms of its type. The maiden flight of the X-51 Waverider aircraft — the first U.S. hypersonic vehicle to fly in six years — is scheduled to take place later in March. Boeing Defense, Space & Security Systems of St. Louis has been developing the aircraft since 2003 on behalf of the Air Force Research Laboratory and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The missile-shaped X-51 will be...

Boeing's X-51A WaveRider — a jet-fueled, air-breathing hypersonic rocket — is one step closer to reality. In tests over Edwards Air Force Base in California, a B-52 bomber carried the X-51A WaveRider aloft for the first time, announced manufacturer Boeing Corp. The test was a key milestone in preparation for the X-51A to light its supersonic "ramjet" engine and propel the WaverRider at hypersonic speed for about 5 minutes, before plunging into the Pacific Ocean

The US Air Force Research Laboratory's X-51A WaveRider scramjet engine demonstrator completed its first captive-carry flight under the wing of its B-52H mothership from Edwards AFB on Dec. 9. The first free flight is planned for mid-February. The B-52 climbed to the planned launch altitude of 50,000ft during a 1.4h flight that checked out systems and telemetry. The next flight, planned for mid-January, will be a full dress-rehearsal for the first of four planned X-51A hypersonic test flights. The Boeing-built X-51A will be released at 50,000ft over the Pacific and accelerated to Mach 4.5 by a solid rocket booster. The...

PALMDALE - The next step in hypersonic flight test is under development in a hangar at The Boeing Co.'s facility at Air Force Plant 42. The unmanned X-51A "Wave­Rider" is a scramjet engine flight demonstrator, expected to provide flight test data at speeds beyond Mach 6 - about one mile per second - using its unique engine design. In a scramjet - or supersonic combustion ramjet - engine, air is scooped into the engine duct, then forced through a combustion chamber, where fuel is mixed in and ignited. This produces energy, which is forced out the rear of the engine...