Hypersonic jets, lasers an Air Force priority

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio - If research keeps going the right way, Air Force hypersonic weapons and fighter jets with lasers will fly in the skies of the future.

Air Force Research Laboratory researchers have made top priorities of hypersonics, directed-energy weapons and autonomy links between operators and machines, according to Maj. Gen. Thomas Masiello, the laboratory commander.

In an interview, the two-star general outlined where the next generation of hypersonic weapon systems and advanced research will take the agency with about 9,700 employees. The science and technology agency has a total budget of around $4 billion, half of which is paid for by outside customers, such as government agencies like NASA, the Defense Research Advanced Projects Agency, or DARPA, and defense contractors.

In one of the most groundbreaking aerospace experiments, the scram-jet-engine-powered, needle-shaped X-51 Waverider reached Mach 5.5 a year ago in a flight test over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. The research laboratory aerospace systems directorate at Wright-Patterson managed the $300 million hypersonic experiment. The research laboratory’s 711th Human Performance Wing, and materials and manufacturing, and sensors directorates are also based at Wright-Patterson.

“This is the first time that we proved that [hypersonic] technology is viable for that sort of platform and that’s essentially a weapon,” Masiello said. “What hypersonics does is it really compresses a potential adversary’s decision-making ability.”

The research laboratory has joined with the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency to build a prototype weapon based on scramjet technology, he said.

“We believe with those platforms, if we can truly develop a hypersonic weapon, that’s a game changer,” said research laboratory Executive Director Ricky Peters.

The laboratory has made a priority of more advanced technology demonstrations, the agency says. On the horizon, a second demonstration research project with the agency will demonstrate hypersonic speeds with a tactical-boost glide rocket, Masiello said.

Directed-energy weapons, such as lasers and cruise missiles with microwave beams, are a high priority area.

An advanced cruise missile with a microwave-emitting payload knocked out electronic information systems on the ground in tests, Masiello said. “The purpose of that weapon is to nonkinetically take out computers and [information-technology] infrastructure,” he said.