WD leads HSAD demo
On Aug. 15, the High Speed Anti-radiation Demonstration (HSAD) Project successfully demonstrated the maturity of an integral rocket ramjet (IRR) propulsion system.
The system incorporated nozzleless booster and variable flow ducted rocket ramjet technologies in a controlled test vehicle (CTV) air-launched flight from a QF-4 drone at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The telemetry and optical reports confirmed that the CTV boosted and safely separated from the aircraft, accelerated to supersonic ramjet transition speed, completed all IRR transition events, ignited and maintained controlled ramjet gas generator operations, and maintained supersonic sustain phase flight before being commanded to roll-down toward the ground to be flight terminated to facilitate vehicle recovery. The vehicle maintained stable controlled flight throughout its planned flight profile until its planned termination. All flight test objectives were demonstrated. Initial data analysis and post-test visual inspection of the hardware indicates that the vehicle’s systems performed as designed.
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