The Air Force has had to postpone the planned May 25 maiden free flight of the X-51A hypersonic air vehicle because a freighter was transiting a portion of the Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range several hundred miles off the California coast. A Navy P-3 aircraft spotted the ship as it was scanning the potential splashdown zone. The May 25 release from Edwards AFB, Calif., from which a B-52 would initially carry the X-51 aloft, said, “Weather permitting, the X-51A will make its first hypersonic flight attempt Wednesday May 26.”
Navy CCA Program’s Shape Coming into Focus
Oct. 17, 2025
In announcing its Navy Collaborative Combat Aircraft contract, General Atomics has provided some clues as to where the service is heading with its version of an armed, autonomous fighter escort. It will likely be quite different from the Air Force version.
