WaveRider set for third hypersonic test-flight

Boeing expects to conduct the third flight of the X-51A WaveRider hypersonic technology demonstrator "imminently", having spent the previous year investigating the source of an engine issue that caused the first two flights to be ended prematurely, the company's director of hypersonics, Joe Vogel, told reporters on 21 June.

While Vogel declined to identify the cause of the problem during a briefing at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California, he said that the third flight of the Mach 4.5 to 6 demonstrator would take place in the very near future, depending on the necessary approvals and the availability of a B-52 Stratofortress launch aircraft.

The air-breathing X-51A, which is jointly built by Boeing Phantom Works and engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne under the direction of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the US Air Force (USAF), employs a scramjet (or supersonic combustion ramjet) to achieve its hypersonic speeds. The third flight, when it happens, will follow two previous tests that took place on 26 May 2010 and 13 June 2011.