HYPERSONIC AIRCRAFT

Aug. 7, 2018

China has tested Xingkong-2 – its first hypersonic aircraft – which could carry nuclear warheads and penetrate any current generation anti-missile defence systems.

Mach Number:

  • Mach number (designated as M or Ma) is the ratio of the speed of the body (aircraft) to the speed of sound in the undisturbed medium through which the body is traveling.

  • g. If the aircraft is flying at Mach 2, then its speed is twice the speed of sound in air (which is 332 m/s or 1195 km/hr).

  • It is named in honor of Ernst Mach (1838-1916), a physicist from Austria.

  • Types of Aircrafts based on Mach Number (Source-NASA):

Subsonic

M < 1

Transonic

M = 1

Supersonic

1 < M < 3

High Supersonic

3 < M < 5

Hypersonic

M > 5

High Hypersonic

M ~ 25

Space crafts re-enter the atmosphere at this speed.

 Hypersonic aircraft:

  • Working:
    • This type of aircraft uses the shock waves generated by its own flight as a lifting surface to enhance the lift-to-drag ratio to reach Mach 5.

    • They use a special type of jet engine called a Supersonic Combustion Ramjet (Scramjet) to fly through the atmosphere. Sometimes, a hypersonic plane uses a rocket engine.



  • Global scenario: China has recently tested Xingkong-2 (a.k.a Starry Sky-20). The United States and Russia have already been carrying out similar experiments.

Source : The Hindu