Boeing Looks Beyond X-51 Hypersonic Vehicle to Global Strike Scramjet

X-51 Waverider

Boeing Could Expand Hypersonic Follow-on Efforts
DefenseNews

If all goes well with this year’s four test flights of the hypersonic Boeing X-51A Waverider, the firm could add a rapid global-strike scramjet to its list of potential follow-up projects, said Steve Johnston, Boeing’s director of Advanced Space Exploration.

The list already includes the X-51A+, which would test a scramjet’s ability to change direction and splash down onto a targeted area at sea; and Rapid Identification and Prosecution of Targets in Denied Environments (RIPTIDE), which “would be more of an operationally representative configuration” that would include sensors and weapons, Johnston said during an April 13 briefing with reporters here.

This, however, is several years away since funding for X-51A+ is not set to begin until fiscal year 2011, according to Johnston.

Both RIPTIDE and the X-51A programs are funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

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