The military-industrial scientific research system of the academic master.

Chapter 1321 Success? Partial success?
at the same time.

On the B52H bomber participating in the test.

Major Nico Dunnell, squadron leader of the 419th Air Test Squadron, held a camera and filmed the X51A ignition and acceleration scene through the cockpit 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 pilots of the test unit who had almost no chance to participate in actual combat, Dunnell, or the pilots of the entire 419 Squadron, had a tradition of taking pictures from the cockpit perspective.

Of course, this is also related to the relatively relaxed information management system of the US military.

In most cases, after such tests, contractors or the Pentagon will quickly release relevant videos and explanatory documents, so there is naturally no need to have an additional video with a different perspective.

Besides, Tik Tok didn’t exist back then, so these private video files were rarely circulated.

"Report to the command center, we have completed the weapon delivery, visually confirmed that the ignition is normal, the test target is climbing and has disappeared from sight..."

Jack Marcel, sitting in the co-pilot seat next to him, was reporting the news to the test command center at Edwards Base via radio.

For the pilots, as long as they successfully drop the weapons, the rest has nothing to do with them.

After finishing the filming, Dunnell closed the DV in his hand, cancelled 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, preparing to descend a little.

Although special modifications and reduced fuel have allowed the aircraft to maintain level flight above 1.6 meters, the erratic operating feel still makes the pilots feel very nauseous.

Now that the mission is over, it would be better to return to below 1.4 meters as soon as possible.

But at this moment, the voice of the wing commander, Colonel Victor Manning, suddenly came over the radio:

"Take a look at your radar warning equipment. Is there anything showing up?"

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 was involved in the early testing of the AN/ALQ165 airborne self-defense jammer. Although the entire project eventually came to nothing, the radar warning system that was specially modified for this purpose was retained.

"The airspace signal is clean, with only one S-band signal source at the two o'clock position. We were unable to identify the model characteristics, but the signal strength is very weak and it is in normal search mode. We judged it to be no threat..."

At this point, Marcel himself was stunned:
"How strange... Is there any high-powered S-band radar nearby?"

After all, the 346 radar is a new model that has only been in service for a few years. If some non-frontline troops have not upgraded to the latest version of the database, they will not be able to recognize it.

His doubts were soon answered:
"They are two guided 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 the control panel in his hand away.

I had never heard of such an incident before takeoff. Now this lonely bomber is flying in the sky, at an altitude where it has difficulty even making a steep turn. And you tell me that it is being targeted by two regional air defense ships?
Fortunately, the distance information that followed made him feel relieved.

160 nautical miles, then it can indeed be considered completely non-threatening.

But what followed was another feeling of shock:

"But wait, we're already close to the west coast..."

He almost blurted out:
"Why is the Chinese Navy able to reach this location? What is the Navy doing?"

The test airspace is located in the east-central Pacific Ocean. Even during World War II, the Japanese fleet had never been so close to the US mainland.

"Major, this is the high seas... The navy can only keep them outside the warning area, but it cannot stop them from sailing normally on the high seas..."

The voice coming from the radio was somewhat helpless:
"Okay, your mission has been successfully completed. End the conversation and return home as soon as possible..."

On the other side, Colonel Manning put down the radio and turned around to look at the senior officers of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sitting behind him:

"General, we have confirmed through the carrier aircraft that, apart from 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 another search using satellites half an hour ago, so they started the test with confidence.

Besides, the verification machine has already been launched, so it would be too late even if any new signal was discovered.

I just confirmed it again to dispel General Mosley's neurotic worries.

While they were communicating with the bomber pilots, the bomb-borne sensors had already transmitted their data back to the command center via the relay communication aircraft.

The combined flight body has been flying for 25 seconds under the propulsion of rocket boosters, reaching an altitude of 18.7km and a speed of Mach 4.7, and is still continuing to climb and accelerate.

The dual inlet located below the front tangent cone also began to compress the supersonic flow, providing sufficient operating conditions for the SJX61-1 scramjet engine that was about to start. However, the signal light representing "permit to start" was still yellow, indicating that the start conditions had not been met, but it was still within the expected window range.

Everyone 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 entered the end of its work, and the speed of the assembly has reached a speed very close to the expected 5.2 Mach.

But the corner of Ke Lingjie's eye twitched suddenly——

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 manifestation of combustion chamber pressure oscillation.

35 seconds of effective working time.

Although it is indeed much better than the original 29 seconds, it is still about 4 seconds different from the result of the ground test.

Affected by this, the compression effect of the incoming flow produced by the intake duct also began to oscillate slightly and tended to gradually diverge.

Because the wind tunnel tests were not perfect, Collinger lowered his expectations for this first test when setting the plan.

But if the ramjet engine cannot even be ignited, then it will be all over.

He even leaned forward to the microphone, ready to ask the staff to manually jettison the boosters and force-start the main engines in advance.

Fortunately, the next second, the signal light turned from yellow to green, indicating that the ramjet engine had met the most basic starting conditions and the booster stage had separated.

There was a burst of warm applause from the stands behind Collinger.

This sudden change made him a little unsure of the situation, but hearing the applause and cheers around him, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue waiting.

The direct starting condition required by the scramjet engine is not speed but pressure. However, according to previous calculations, about Mach 5.4-5.5 is required to meet this pressure requirement.

Now that the green light has been turned on ahead of time, it is possible that too much margin was left in the calculation process...

After another second of gliding, the fuel closed-loop system filled the combustion chamber with JP7A fuel, and the first operating point appeared in the operating window of the SJX61-1 engine at the same time.

However, in the midst of the celebratory atmosphere all around him, Collinger found it increasingly difficult to laugh.

Due to unknown reasons, the engine operating parameters did not match the previous ground test, which meant that either his calculations were wrong, or there was something wrong with the engine that seemed to be working normally...

Either way, it's not good news.

At this moment, Air Force Chief of Staff Mosley walked straight to Collinger again:
"Doctor, the launch 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 now in a difficult position and had to deal with it while praying in his heart that the engine could maintain stability for the next 270 seconds of working time to accumulate enough data for him.

30 second……

60 second……

90 second……

After breaking through Mach 5.4, every acceleration of the aircraft seemed to be quite struggling, and until 120 seconds, it still failed to reach a 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 the predetermined design parameters have been achieved.

But just when Collinger thought that the next 150 seconds would pass in the same uneventful way.

At 139 seconds, the operating 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 began to sound high temperature alarms.

Before anyone could react.

143 seconds, the data completely disappeared from the big screen...

(End of this chapter)