An Ars Technica report discusses the possibility of achieving supersonic flight without loud booms, noting that NASA is working on it. “The X-59 is being built to do a series of supersonic test flights over American cities to boom people living there.” Then NASA will collect feedback “from those on the ground and compile it into a data pack for the aviation authorities, the FAA and the International Civil Aviation Administration.” That data is then expected to be “part of a push to lift the ban on supersonic flight over land and replace it with an acceptable noise standard.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)
Tag: Lockheed Martin
US Air Force Completes Final Test of Lockheed’s Hypersonic Missile
Defense News reports, “The U.S. Air Force on Sunday carried out what is expected to be the final test of the hypersonic AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon.” The Air Force declined to identify the test’s objectives, but said it “gained valuable insights into the capabilities” of the Lockheed Martin-made hypersonic weapon.
Full Story (Defense News)
US Aerospace Manufacturers Join USAF’s Autonomous Fighter Effort
FlightGlobal reports that three major US aerospace manufacturers “have confirmed they will participate in a US Air Force (USAF) effort to develop autonomous fighter aircraft.” Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman “have all been selected for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, the companies tell FlightGlobal on 26 January.” The three defense giants “join start-up Anduril, which confirmed its participation in the effort on 25 January.” The CCA program “aims to deliver pilotless jet aircraft that can be produced at a relatively low cost and fielded in large numbers to supplement crewed fighters.” The USAF “plans to team CCAs with a secretive future sixth-generation fighter platform, known as Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD).”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)
NASA’s X-59 Moves Past Delays Towards First Flight This Year
Aviation Week reports that despite problems “that delayed the X-59 Low-Boom Flight Demonstration program from its scheduled flight debut in 2021, no obvious obstacles stand in the way of the aircraft flying for the first time in the late spring or early summer.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
X-59 Promises to Open a New Era of Supersonic Travel
The Times (UK) reports the X-59, built by Skunk Works, “promises to open a new era of supersonic travel.” The X-59 “has been designed to fly faster than the speed of sound without generating the thunderous, window-rattling sonic boom that has, until now, accompanied all supersonic flight. Instead, it should produce what NASA describe as a ‘gentle sonic thump’ – about as loud as a car door being slammed several metres away. The aim is to persuade regulators, including in Britain, to amend rules that have banned faster-than-sound commercial flights over land since the 1970s because of the noise nuisance.” Later this year, according to The Times, the “X-59 will pass over densely populated areas of the US. Residents will be asked what they think about the thump and the findings will guide future legislation.”
Full Story (The Times {UK})
NASA and Lockheed Martin Unveil X-59 “Quiet” Supersonic Demonstrator
Defense Daily reported that on January 12, NASA and Skunk Works “rolled out the X-59 ‘quiet’ supersonic demonstrator aircraft in Palmdale, Calif.” FlightGlobal reports that during the “roll-out ceremony at Lockheed’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, the sleek, single-engine jet was hailed by its developers as a potentially ‘revolutionary’ step forward that could unlock commercial supersonic flights over populated areas.” Pam Melroy, NASA’s deputy administrator, said, “As we unveil this technological marvel, it’s really important to understand the profound impact the X-59 holds for the aviation industry. … Today, supersonic flight brings a thunderous boom. It is restricted across populated areas for good reason. And the X-59 is going to break that barrier.”
Full Story (Defense Daily); More Info (FlightGlobal)
NASA Delays Test Flights of X-59 to 2024
Aviation Week in paywalled coverage reports NASA “has pushed back the first flight of the X-59 low-boom supersonic demonstrator to 2024 after a series of subsystem issues encountered during check-out tests at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, late this summer proved harder to solve than expected.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Lockheed Martin, NASA Working Around the Clock to Complete Artemis II’s Orion Capsule in Time for 2024 Launch
NASA Space Flight reports that the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission “is nearing final assembly and testing at prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) production facility.” After a final standalone test “on the Orion crew module (CM), it is expected to be mated to the service module (SM) in mid-September.” If there are no problems “in the remaining months of testing, Lockheed Martin believes they can complete their work by the end of April next year.” NASA is “planning Artemis II as a week-and-a-half long, lunar-flyby mission; it will be the first crewed test flight for Orion and the Space Launch System (SLS) and the four-person astronaut crew recently visited KSC together for the first time to see their spacecraft.” NASA is still “retaining its late November 2024 launch forecast as a ‘work to’ date, although the pace of work is currently ‘a number of weeks’ behind that forecast.”
Full Story (NASA Space Flight)
Lockheed Martin Contracted by NASA to Design, Test New Nuclear-Powered Propulsion System
The New York Times reports NASA and DARPA have announced that Lockheed Martin has been selected “to design, build and test a propulsion system that could one day speed astronauts on a trip to Mars.” The nearly $500 million program “is named DRACO, short for the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations.” The DRACO development “is to culminate with a flight test of the nuclear-thermal engine.” Kirk Shireman, a vice president at Lockheed Martin, “said the launch was currently scheduled for late 2025 or early 2026.”
Full Story (The New York Times)
Lockheed Martin Picks GE’s CF6-80E1 Engine to Power its LMXT Tanker
Breaking Defense reports that Lockheed Martin has chosen “GE Aerospace’s CF6-80E1 engine to power the aerospace giant’s LMXT tanker pitch for the Air Force, the two companies announced” Tuesday. Larry Gallogly, Lockheed Martin’s campaign director for the LMXT, said during a briefing with reporters, “We have endeavored through our supply chain to make sure we were getting the absolute best bang for the buck, so to speak, and providing the best engine for the LMXT. We’re very happy to announce that competition is now complete, and we have selected an iconic United States company, General Electric, to provide the CF6-80E1 engine for the LMXT.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)