Blackswift is officially dead.
DARPA's reusable hypersonic test bed aiming for first flight in 2012 died by a congressional decision to annihilate the program's hefty $120 million price tag for 2009 alone. Passing the funding cuts became infinitely easier with the recent firing of former USAF chief of staff Michael Moseley and Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne, arguably the project's two strongest patrons.
I recommend reading Graham Warwick's thoughts about the subject at Aviation Week's Ares blog, but here's a snapshot.
"It was a good idea and good ideas have a way of coming back and getting done eventually. Hopefully, the US will do it first, but there are no guarantees," Walker's statement said.
Hmm ... I smell an ever-popular allusion to Chinese/Indian/Russian competition.
Interestingly, we know two weeks ago that India and Russia launched a development program for a Mach 6 BrahMos cruise missile.
China has been less publicly obliging about its plans for hypersonic development. But allow me to point out the agenda for the most recent AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference, in which every reference to a specifically hypersonic technology program involved a presentation by a Chinese or Indian research team.
DARPA's reusable hypersonic test bed aiming for first flight in 2012 died by a congressional decision to annihilate the program's hefty $120 million price tag for 2009 alone. Passing the funding cuts became infinitely easier with the recent firing of former USAF chief of staff Michael Moseley and Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne, arguably the project's two strongest patrons.
I recommend reading Graham Warwick's thoughts about the subject at Aviation Week's Ares blog, but here's a snapshot.
I'm not sure what I think about this. Disappointed, certainly, but not surprised. Congress was skeptical of Blackswift's technical feasibility and operational utility. I always had the uncomfortable feeling the research agency was trying to run before it could walk - tackling the "DARPA-hard" challenge of reusable hypersonics before it had some of the enabling technologies firmly in place.Let me also point out the last line of DARPA's official statement on Blackswift's demise. It's a quote by program manager Steven Walker carrying an oblique warning:
"It was a good idea and good ideas have a way of coming back and getting done eventually. Hopefully, the US will do it first, but there are no guarantees," Walker's statement said.
Hmm ... I smell an ever-popular allusion to Chinese/Indian/Russian competition.
Interestingly, we know two weeks ago that India and Russia launched a development program for a Mach 6 BrahMos cruise missile.
China has been less publicly obliging about its plans for hypersonic development. But allow me to point out the agenda for the most recent AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference, in which every reference to a specifically hypersonic technology program involved a presentation by a Chinese or Indian research team.
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