New P&W Engine to Be Tested at Mach 5 Flight Conditions

Pratt & Whitney (P&W) Space Propulsion recently completed fabrication of a hypersonic Ground Demonstration Engine (GDE-2) successfully completing a three-phase, nine-year, $58 million contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The GDE-2 is unique in that it features a variable geometry inlet and a bolted construction, simulating the configuration of a reusable access-to-space or global-reach propulsion system.

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Hmmm..impressive stuff

Here is the exciting part from the article....

A P&W, U.S. Air Force and Boeing team will use results from the GDE-2 test program in their Scramjet Engine Demonstrator - Wave Rider flight demonstration program scheduled to fly in 2008.

An aircraft with speeds in excess of mach-7 !!!!!! That sucker will be able to make the N.Y. to Paris run in 45 mins. and maybe if they can get the speeds much higher it will be able to reach orbit. It has to be tested on a missile dropped from a b-52 first but eventually it could be built into an airframe for a manned aircraft.

India will fly at Mach 6 + in 2007

Sounds great. I think we'll have a mach 4-5 manned aircraft in about 15-20 years.

StealthSpy, if you mean UAV hypersonic aircraft flight, then the U.S. has already flown at mach 10 with the X-43.

What I think this article is saying is they're making engines for MANNED hypersonic flight in an aircraft.