X-51 Hypersonic Cruise Missile, U.S.A.

[asaad-ul-islam]

Imagine having the ability to strike anywhere in the world within one hour. The X-51 is an amazing hypersonic cruise missile that travels 600 miles in just ten minutes (approximately 3600 MPH or Mach 5).


Compared with the Tomahawk Missile which travels at a mere 550 MPH, the X51 gives the US the ability to strike enemies quickly before they can evade. As U.S. Strategic Command’s deputy commander Lt. Gen. C. Robert Kehler puts it, the goal of the X51 is “to strike virtually anywhere on the face of the Earth within 60 minutes.”

The power of this weapon once it reaches its unfortunate target is amazing.

Traveling as fast as 13,000 mph, the warheads are filled with scored tungsten rods with twice the strength of steel. Just above the target, the warheads detonate, showering the area with thousands of rods-each one up to 12 times as destructive as a .50-caliber bullet. Anything within 3000 sq. ft. of this whirling, metallic storm is obliterated.

The X-51 Will be the most advanced cruise / long distance missile in the world when it is completed, although there have been protests that the X-51 could trigger a nuclear war. A test run of this weapon in 2008 could appear to be heading toward another nuclear power during portions of its flight pattern which could be provoking.

 

[asaad-ul-islam]

something i came upon on futurefirepower.com, thought i might share.

 

[Awesome]

Does it have the fuel to trave 13,000 miles at 13,000 mph?

Cruise missiles are supposed to be smaller in size.

Cruise missiles indeed are the weapons of the near future. Infact they deter the use of nuclear weapons since you end up with the capability to attack with pinpoint capability. You don't have to take out an entire city to destroy one building.

But you need to have CMs in masses. You should have the ability to launch thousands of CMs on the enemy.

 

[su-47]

USA can afford thousanads of CMs. They are converting many of their Ohio class SSBNs to SSGNs (Guided missile submarines) carrying over 100 tomohawk missiles. their cruisers can also carry dozens of tomohawks. so basically the USN alone will have thousands of CM in their arsenal. Add the army and the airforce's cruise missile arsenal and the USA has enough CMs to take out virtually every military target in nearly any country.

 

[MOSABJA]

I dont think its gonna be completed in 2008.
This kind of Cm will first require a lots of Fuel.

Plus the handling is also a problem.

But I think we will enter the era of supersonic CMs in or before 2015

 

[IceCold]

Something like this will indeed triger an arms race between the US, Russia and China. By the way is it even possible to go hypersonic. As far as i remember seeing a hypersonic jet type thing on the discovery, the problem with that was that as soon as it reached the speed of above mach 3 the friction was so much that it couldnot retain its balance in the air dispite of the power produced by the engine and it simply disintegrated.

 

[asaad-ul-islam]

keep in mind that the cruise missile is covering much distance in a relative short amount of time, so fuel for range isn't much of a problem. although i have little knowledge in ramjet/scramjet propulsion, i think this form of hypersonic propulsion is effecient at high altitudes. India and russia are supposed to be working on a joint brahmos 2 hypersonic missile. this is perhaps the beginning of a new area of the current arms race, let's hope pakistan can join china in a future joint project.

 

[Imran Khan]

so what abut our baber its short range but best in pak missiles

 

[Joodi]

so what abut our baber its short range but best in pak missiles

Yes Babur is a sub sonic cruise missile with a range of 700 km, It has stealthy design which makes it capable of avoiding radar detection.
Unilke india (brahmos) pakistan has not yet tested any super sonic cruise missile. Improved versions of Babur babur with longer range , increased payload and fater speed is already on the menu card.

 

[Imran Khan]

so we have to wait for seen babur new power show until 2010

 

[Joodi]

so we have to wait for seen babur new power show until 2010

Yah let see whats cooking in NESCOM. the upcoming surface launched cruise missile will be 1000km range.

 

[Sam Dhanraj]

Mockup of X-51 during the vehicle's antenna testing on Jan. 29

An X-51 Scramjet-Waverider mock-up hangs inside the Benefield Anechoic Facility during the vehicle's antenna testing Jan. 29 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The 412th Test Wing Hypersonic Flight Test Team, Electronic Warfare and Boeing began the month-long testing Jan. 28. (U.S. Air Force photo/Mike Cassidy)

 

[Sam Dhanraj]

Air Force tests X-51 antennas

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by Senior Airman Julius Delos Reyes
95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

2/4/2008 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE. Calif. -- Tests are under way at the Benefield Anechoic Facility here on the X-51 Scramjet-Waverider's antennas to ensure all of the X-51's antennas and communication systems are working properly.

The 412th Test Wing Hypersonic Flight Test Team, Electronic Warfare Directorate and Boeing began month-long testing Jan. 28.

The X-51 is an autonomous vehicle with a scramjet engine enabling the aircraft to travel at a hypersonic speed -- faster than six times the speed of sound.

The testers are looking at two different types of antennas -- a flight termination system antenna and telemetry antenna -- that streamline all data from the X-51, including performance, air and engine data.

"We have to make sure we have good receiving and transmitting antennas before we actually fly the aircraft," said 1st Lt. Richard Paek, X-51 lead project engineer. "We also have to make sure we have good coverage of antenna patterns, spectrum of frequencies and bandwidth."

The Boeing test team mounted the antennas on an X-51 mock-up. An antenna in the Benefield Anechoic Facility will send signals to the mock-up, while an engineer determines if the aircraft is receiving the signal.

"We are testing at the Benefield Anechoic Facility because it is unique," said Maj. Raimone Roberts, 412th TW Hypersonic Flight Test Team projects director. "We are able to isolate everything that is going on around so we can really ensure the antennas are picking up the right signals."

Ground stations at Ridley Mission Control Center here and at Naval Air Station Point Mugu at Ventura County, Calif., "will communicate with the X-51 during its flight (scheduled for August 2009)," Lieutenant Paek said. "Each ground station has requirements such as the strength of the radio frequency and bandwidth."

The aircraft will be loaded onto a B-52 Stratofortress. Boosted by an Army Tactical Cruise Missile, the X-51 will then be dropped from an altitude of 50,000 feet and will soar at hypersonic speed.

"Hypersonics is the way of the future," Major Roberts said. "This is a step in better understanding how hypersonic is going to perform and what benefits it will bring us as a military function."

Edwards tests X-51 antennas

 

[Super Falcon]

does this cruise missile is better than pakistans or better than indias

 

[su-47]

its better than any other in the world today.