In a captive-carry test Dec. 9, a B-52 carried aloft the X-51 Waverider hypersonic test vehicle over Edwards AFB, Calif., paving the way for the X-51’s flight test in early 2010. At that time, researchers expect the Waverider to light its supersonic combustion ramjet engine for a five-minute hypersonic flight over the Pacific Ocean. “We successfully captured all of our test points without any anomalies,” said Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager with Air Force Research Lab’s propulsion directorate at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, of last week’s test. AFRL, which has teamed with DARPA, Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, and Rocketdyne on the project, expects to conduct one more “full dress rehearsal” before the first hypersonic test flight in February, said Brink. (Wright-Patt release; mating tests were conducted in summer 2009)
As commander of Air Forces Central, Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich has been at the heart of almost all U.S. military action in the Middle East, from overseeing airstrikes against Iranian proxy groups to protecting troops as America’s air defense commander for the region. Just before handing over his command to…