EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., June 1 (UPI) -- Boeing marked a milestone for its unmanned supersonic scramjet program following the successful completion of the technology's first flight in California.
U.S. company Boeing is leading a team that includes Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne along with the U.S. Air Force and other government partners developing the X-51A WaveRider supersonic unmanned aerial vehicle.
Company officials say the X-51A, equipped with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's supersonic combustion scramjet motor, is designed as a vehicle capable of flying longer at hypersonic speeds than its predecessors with speeds five times faster than the speed of sound.
The Boeing-led team announced the successful first flight attempt after a launch from a U.S. Air Force B-52H bomber in California. The X-51A was in flight for more than 3 minutes collecting valuable performance data.
"We are ecstatic to have accomplished many of the X-51A test points during its first hypersonic mission," Charlie Brink, Air Force Research Laboratory X-51A program manager, said in a statement.
