The Mach 22 Falcon HTV-1

The FALCON Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 1 (HTV-1) will hit a top speed of mach 22, at 150,000 feet, Its first flight is expected around September 2007.

from the link
"We have made great progress and are on track for the first glided hypersonic test vehicle flight in 2007," said Russ Partch, the Falcon HTV-1 manager. "It will enable a revolutionary capability to quickly respond to events anywhere around the world."

Planned for a less than one-hour flight in September 2007, the Falcon HTV-1 is set to complete its inaugural voyage over the Pacific Ocean. Attaining Mach 19, the vehicle will briefly exit the Earth's atmosphere and re-enter flying between 19 and 28 miles above the planet's surface. Demonstrating hypersonic glide technology and setting the stage for HTV-2 represent the primary focus of the lower risk, lower performance initial flight.

For the second demonstration, scheduled for 2008 or 2009, the Falcon HTV-2 will feature a different structural design, enhanced controllability and higher risk performance factors during its high-speed journey. Like its predecessor, the system will reach Mach 22 and then finish its one-hour plus mission over the Pacific Ocean.

In addition, the HTV-3, flying at Mach 10, will be designed to achieve high aerodynamic efficiency and to validate external heat barrier panels that will be reusable.

It finally looks like the FALCON program has taken off, going from concept, to being currently under construction. This project is to develop all the tech needed for a global strike aircraft...after of course the 3rd demo vehicle it completed. Finally it looks like the US need for airbases around the globe is going to shrink, with the capability to take off from the US, bomber your target on the other side of the world and then continue flying until your back in the US, and all in a couple hours.

I cant wait to see this thing fly next year!

High-speed air vehicles designed for rapid global reach

Sorry buddy but Zion Mainframe beat you to it.

Zion's thread

Murcielago you have my vote for best avitar!!!!
Cant ever go wrong with Stewie Griffin!

Originally posted by NWguy83
Sorry buddy but Zion Mainframe beat you to it.

Zion's thread

but...but...but...mine has a pretty picture



and "b777pilot", I agree, Stewie is the best.

Indeed he is!
Stewie: Rupert, did you call that engineer at LOCKHEED yet? Well of course you didn't you worthless little... (Hits Rupert the Toy Bear). There, see what you made me do? Do you think I enjoy hitting you? Well actually I do. I enjoy it so much I'm going to do it AGAIN!!! (Hits Rupert the Toy Bear)

That just proves it!


Stewies Sexy Party

[edit on 2-2-2006 by b777pilot]

Murcielago,

I wonder how they intend to separate munitions (visions of the A-5 'lets pull a train' system comes to mind) and if they mean to provide the system with a skip bomber profile that /requires/ atmospheric release. Or intend to provide the 'real' version (shades of the Russkian 'space plane' FOBS/TAV comes to giggle me...) with an air liquification cycle option to take the airframe completely out of atmosphere once the SCRAMs have sucked enough off the top as it were.

The latter option will suck up quite a bit of internal volume but it would also alleviate cooling panel problems, make it easier to separate ordnance through top or bottom (RCS/OMS roll to preference) and lastly, give a real alternative to Pegasus and other lightweight space launchers in terms of being able to fly TO the insertion point for a NIRTS or covert mechanic.

In any case, this kind of weapons system is more of a 'hostage' platform than a real war winner, IMO.

For unless you release just /stacks/ of SDB-as-Mini-MARV (rod from God) munitions, you still probably cannot generate the sortie/aimpoint fraglist numbers to stop another Desert Storm (or Korea or Kashmir or Formosa Straits). And without loiter, you cannot also do the Kosovo Genocide prevention or AfG Border Minder missions.

What this capability DOES highlight however is that if you can put a vehicle into LEO, on the cheap, you can both gain and deny rapid overhead targeting using a secondary Brilliant Pebbles micro-KKV approach, even if the launch vehicle is sacrificial (X-43).

While if the range point ise ever matched (major materials/manufacturing hurdle if they are using what I think they are) on an engineering basis, all of a sudden, you can look at CONVENTIONAL strike missions against CONUS which strike our 'urbanity' where it hypocritically never thought it was going to be challenged.

Imagine how the collective America Wale will beach and moan when we get a taste of the 'sound of coming around' as hypershocks indicating the deceleration of another 20 microbombs going through a skyscraper or suburb.

DEWS should get some of them. But particularly if you swing wide (or stay deep in the atmosphere stack) the numbers won't look good for 'better the arrow than the archer' vs. 'his plasma sheath is acting like a deflector shield'.

I also want to see it fly. But I doubt if it will get much hooplah unless they choose to provide a 'seaside view' of the ground track (over the PMTR for instance). And particularly if it's not _fully_ recoverable (landing gear and low speed flight controls if not auxilliary propulsion).


KPl.

Sweet, this thing is being built like 15 minutes away from my house!

Originally posted by American Mad Man
Sweet, this thing is being built like 15 minutes away from my house!

In that case...I expect some good hi res pics in under a year...All you would have to do is grab your camera and wear all black, while donning a ski mask.

ch1466 - Munitions??? This is all experimental work that will lead to a Global Strike Bomber....But this isn't it...So It wont even have a bomb bay.