Chapter 1321 Success? Partially successful?
at the same time.
On board the B52H bomber participating in the test.
Major Nico Dunnell, commander of the 419th Air Test Squadron, was holding a camera and filming the X51A's ignition and acceleration through the driver's window.
As for the test process itself, a wide-angle side-view camera was installed on the outermost left wing of their aircraft to capture the entire launch process.
But as a pilot of a test unit with little opportunity to participate in actual combat, Dunnell, or the pilots of the entire 419th Squadron, have a tradition of taking commemorative photos from the cockpit perspective.
Of course, this is also related to the relatively loose information management system of the US military.
In most cases, after such tests, the contractor or the Pentagon will quickly release relevant videos and documentation, so there is no need to add a video with a different perspective.
Moreover, there was no TikTok these days, and these private video files were rarely circulated.
"Report to the command center that we have completed the weapon delivery, visually confirmed that the ignition is normal, the test target is climbing and has disappeared from the field of vision..."
Jack Marcel, sitting in the co-pilot position next to him, was reporting news to the test command center at Edwards Base via radio.
For the pilots, as long as they successfully drop the weapon, the rest has nothing to do with them.
After completing the shooting, Dunnell closed the DV in his hand, canceled the bombing navigation mode that could automatically maintain the route on the control panel in front of him, and then pushed the disc joystick with both hands to prepare to descend a little height.
Although the aircraft can maintain level flight above 16,000 meters through special modifications and reduced fuel consumption, the erratic operating feel still makes pilots feel very nauseous.
Now that the mission is over, it is naturally better to return below 14,000 meters as soon as possible.
But at this moment, the voice of Colonel Victor Manning, the commander of the wing, suddenly came over the radio:
"Take a look at your radar warning equipment. Does it show anything?"
The co-pilot Marcel, who was adjusting the engine thrust, had to divert his attention and take a look at the situation on the RWR display.
This aircraft participated in the early testing of the AN/ALQ165 airborne self-defense jammer. Although the entire project ended in vain, the radar warning system specially modified for this purpose was retained.
"The airspace signal is clean, there is only one S-band signal source in the two o'clock direction. No model characteristics can be identified, but the signal strength is very weak and it is in normal search mode. It is judged that there is no threat..."
Speaking of this, Marcel himself was stunned for a moment:
"That's strange... Are there any high-power S-band radars around here?"
After all, the 346 radar is a new model that has just been in service for a few years. If some non-front-line troops do not have their turn to upgrade the latest version of the database, they will not be able to identify it.
And his doubts were quickly answered:
"They are two missile destroyers of the Chinese Navy, about 160 nautical miles away from you."
When he heard the first half of the sentence, Dunnell almost threw out the control panel in his hand——
I had never heard of such an incident before taking off. Now this lone bomber is flying in the sky, at an altitude that makes it difficult to turn at a steep angle, and then you tell me that it is being targeted by two regional air defense ships?
Fortunately, the distance information that followed made him sigh in relief.
160 nautical miles, it can indeed be considered to be no threat at all.
But what followed was another feeling of shock:
"But wait a minute, we're already close to the west coast..."
He asked almost blurt out:
"Why can the Chinese navy reach this location? What is the navy doing?"
The test airspace is located in the east-central part of the Pacific Ocean. Even during World War II, the Japanese fleet had never been so close to the mainland of the United States.
"Major, this is the high seas... The navy can at most keep them out of the designated warning area. It is impossible to prevent others from normal navigation on the high seas..."
The voice coming from the radio was a little helpless:
"Okay, your mission has been successfully completed. End the conversation and return as soon as possible..."
On the other side, Colonel Manning put down his radio communicator and immediately turned around and looked at several senior officials of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sitting behind:
"General, it has been confirmed again through the carrier aircraft. Except for the fleet that has begun to move away from the test area, there are no other suspicious radiation sources within the range. There is no need to worry about data leakage."
In fact, the Air Force had already conducted a new search using satellites half an hour ago, so it started the test with confidence.
Besides, the verification machines have already been launched by now, so even if any new signals are discovered, it will be too late.
It was just to dispel General Mosley's neurotic worries, so he reconfirmed it again.
While they were communicating with the bomber pilots, the missile-borne sensors had already transmitted their data back to the command center through the relay communication aircraft.
The combined flying body has been flying for 25 seconds driven by the rocket booster, reaching an altitude of 18.7km and a speed of Mach 4.7, and is still climbing and accelerating.
The binary inlet located under the front kissing cone also begins to compress the supersonic incoming flow, providing sufficient operating conditions for the upcoming SJX61-1 scramjet engine. However, the signal light representing "allowed to start" is still yellow, indicating that the starting conditions have not been met, but it is still within the expected window range.
The crowd stared at the numbers on the big screen and almost forgot to breathe.
Another 10 seconds passed.
According to the flight plan, the booster rocket has reached the end of its operation, and the speed of the assembly has reached very close to the expected Mach 5.2.
But the corner of Collinger's eye suddenly twitched——
The inconspicuous acceleration curve in the lower right corner suddenly began to fluctuate. Although it still remained above 0, according to his experience, this was a sign of combustion chamber pressure oscillation.
35 seconds of effective working time.
While it is indeed much stronger than the original 29 seconds, there is still a difference of about 4 seconds from the results in the ground test.
Affected by this, the incoming flow compression effect generated by the inlet duct also began to oscillate slightly, and had a tendency to gradually diverge.
Because the wind tunnel test was not complete enough, Collinger lowered his expectations for this first test when he set the plan.
This book was recently updated in ##六@@九@@书@@!! Updated!
But if the ramjet engine ignition cannot be completed, then the game is completely over.
He even got in front of the microphone, preparing to ask the staff to manually throw away the booster and forcefully start the main engine in advance.
Fortunately, the next second, the signal light turned from yellow to green, indicating that the ramjet engine had reached the most basic starting conditions and the boost stage was separated.
A burst of warm applause suddenly erupted from the stands behind Collinger.
This sudden change made him a little unsure of the situation, but listening to the applause and cheers around him, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to wait.
The direct starting condition required for a scramjet engine is not speed but pressure. However, according to prior calculations, approximately Mach 5.4-5.5 is needed to meet this pressure requirement.
Now that the green light is on in advance, it cannot be ruled out that the margin is too large during the calculation process...
After another second of coasting, the fuel closed-loop system charged JP7A fuel into the combustion chamber, and the first operating point simultaneously appeared within the operating window of the SJX61-1 engine.
However, in the festive atmosphere around him, Collinger felt increasingly unable to laugh.
Due to reasons that are still unknown, the engine operating parameters do not match the previous ground tests, indicating that either there is a problem with his calculations, or there is a problem with the engine that seems to be working normally...
< br>
Either way, it's not good news.
But at this moment, Air Force Chief of Staff Mosley walked directly to Collinger:
"Doctor, the startup was successful and the speed of the aircraft is increasing!"
"Yes...but we still need to observe the specific operation of the engine..."
The latter was already stuck and couldn't get off the stage at this time, so he had to deal with it while praying in his heart that the engine could stabilize the working time for the next 270 seconds and accumulate enough data for him.
30 seconds…
60 seconds…
90 seconds…
After breaking through Mach 5.4, every acceleration of the aircraft seemed to be quite difficult. Until 120 seconds, it still failed to reach the speed of Mach 5.5.
However, this has at least crossed the threshold of hypersonic speed.
As long as it can fly the entire distance stably, it can be said that it has reached the predetermined design parameters.
But just when Collinger thought that the next 150 seconds would pass like this.
At 139 seconds, the working curve of the scramjet engine suddenly fluctuated, and showed positive feedback in the following two seconds.
At 142 seconds, multiple systems including the fuel system and control system started high temperature alarms.
Before anyone could react.
In 143 seconds, the data completely disappeared on the big screen...
(End of chapter)