NASA A search for blackswift at NASA.gov turns up no results.

[LURCH]

A search for "blackswift" at NASA.gov turns up no results.

So, here is some truly putrid reporting about a truly wonderfull story:

http://www.comcast.net/data/fan/html/popup.html?v=779215474&pl=622214722.xml&plc=622214722&launchpoint=Cover&cid=fancover&attr=default_headline&config=/config/common/fan/default.xml

The reporter obviously has no idea what he's talking about, and the expert annalyst appears to have his hands full just coping with the idiot reporter. The article starts out saying that the new engine has been test-flown, but all the searches I do show only a budget proposal. Many bloggers are talking about this project, but half of them seem to think it's a scramjet, and not pulse-detonation like the NASA annalyst says.

A search for "blackswift" at NASA.gov turns up no results. Does anybody have any insite into this program?

 

[turbo]

Google will find you lots of links. No prototypes have been built, yet. The 2 prototypes were to be built at a cost of $800M (yeah, right!) but the project is facing opposition in Congress, so likely the project will continue as a black budget item. The military and and intelligence communities and their contractors seem to be able to take taxpayer money at will by over-classifying projects and rolling them into the black budget to avoid congressional oversight.

While this seems like a nice "gee whiz" project, I fail to see what value blackswift brings to the arsenal above and beyond the capability of cheaper, expendable missiles. Also, its Mach 6 speed would be limited by fuel payload and would not be sustainable for more than a few minutes at most. The talk of blackswift "cruising" at Mach 6 is hype, absent a breakthrough in propulsion and/or the development of some exotic fuel with a much higher energy:mass ratio than the stuff we currently feed our planes.

 

[Mech_Engineer]

From what I've read, "Project Blackswift" is synonymous with HTV-3X, the USAF/DARPA designation. There is a lot of speculative information about this project around, but here is a quote from the DARPA website's Project FALCON.

The HTV-3X program will demonstrate key Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle technologies in a realistic flight environment by developing a re-usable hypersonic aircraft test bed capable of takeoff from runway under turbojet power, acceleration to Mach 6 speed under combined turbojet and scramjet propulsion, controlled deceleration, and runway landings.

http://www.darpa.mil/tto/programs/Falcon.htm

DARPA's website doesn't seem to make any referral to the use of pulse detonation engines, instead mentioning that it will use turbo and SCRAM jets. Additionally, I can't seem to find mention of NASA involvement in the HTV-3X project, only passing references to Blackswift being called HTV-3X by DARPA.

Here is an interesting article from NewLaunches.com:

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne have successfully tested a sub-scale combustor for a dual-mode ramjet engine. This could power the Falcon HTV-3X (financed by DARPA) hypersonic cruiser to Mach 6 and beyond. With the Dual-mode, the engine can function both at subsonic speeds and then speed up to supersonic scramjet speeds (greater than Mach 5). This engine technology was developed for Lockheed Martin's Falcon Combined-Cycle Engine Technology (FaCET) program.

http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/falcon_htv3x_hypersonic_cruiser_successfully_tested.php

It's possible NASA and Lockheed Martin are developing engines that are to compete for the chance to power the HTV-3X project...