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.
Not dead yet?
Link below.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking innovative propulsion system solutions for full scale hypersonic vehicles. The use of a BAA solicitation provides the Government with the flexibility to develop a tailored program plan that best advances the Vulcan program goals.
Constant Volume Combustion (CVC) engines have been under development for more than a decade. Considerable progress has been made and the technology is believed mature enough to enable a dramatic new propulsion system capability. CVC engines when combined with turbine engines offer the ability to design a new class of Mach 4+ air breathing engines.
The goal of the Vulcan demonstration program is to design, build and ground test an engine capable of accelerating a full scale hypersonic vehicle from rest to Mach 4+. The Vulcan engine will consist of a CVC engine, a full scale turbine engine, an inlet and a nozzle. CVC engine architectures could include Pulsed Detonation Engines (PDE’s), Continuous Detonation Engines (CDE’s) or other unsteady CVC engine architectures. The CVC engine would operate from below the upper Mach limit of the turbine engine to Mach 4+. The turbine engine will be a current production engine capable of operating above Mach 2 and may be based on any of the following list: the F100-229, F110-129, F119 or F414. Key objectives of the program are to integrate the turbine engine into the Vulcan engine with minimal modification to the turbine engine; to operate the turbine engine from rest to its upper Mach limit; and to cocoon the turbine engine when it is not in use. It is desired that both the turbine and the CVC engines share a common inlet and nozzle. The inlet and nozzle will both be capable of flow path switching to provide the proper amount of air to the CVC engine and turbine engine. It is envisioned that developing the Vulcan engine will enable full scale hypersonic cruise vehicles for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, strike or other critical national missions.
https://www.fbo.gov/?tab=documents&tabmode=form&subtab=core&tabid=dffe71e0cdd7669ad951b6c6925cfd8e