X-51A “Waverider”: Mach 5 is the new record

United States Air Force has announced the world: their experimental scream jet called X-51A “Waverider” has set a new world record of flight speed: Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound).

The X-51A was carried by a Stratofortress (a Boeing B-52 jet-powered subsonic strategic bomber) over the Pacific, nearby the Californian coastline. After being dropped, the Waverider has ignited its scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engines and quickly accelerated to Mach 5, thus setting a new world record.

The entire test flight lasted a little more then 200 seconds (about 3.33 minutes), surpassing the performance of NASA’s X-43 supersonic plane that has only worked for 12 seconds.

The X-51A “Waverider” scramjet experimental aircraft is 14 feet long (that’s about 4.3 meters) and has very small wings as it is designed to ride the shock wave created by itself while flying – thus the name: Waverider. Its thrust is provided by a SJY61 scramjet engine built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

According to Air Force officials, the X-51A did not reach its full potential. After the 200 seconds flight its engine has stopped – probably the flame inside the scramjet engine blew out -but project officials are still very happy with the test’s outcome. They seem confident that they will able to achieve their target speed – Mach 6.