DARPA Falcon Project
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The DARPA Falcon Project (Force Application and Launch from Continental United States) is a two-part joint project between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Air Force (USAF). One part of the program aims to develop a reusable, rapid-strike Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV), and the other is for the development of a launch system capable of accelerating a HCV to cruise speeds, as well as launching small satellites into earth orbit. This two-part program was announced in 2003 and continued into 2006.[1]
The latest project to be announced under the Falcon banner was a fighter-sized unmanned aircraft called "Blackswift" which would take off from a runway and accelerate to Mach 6 before completing its mission and landing again. The memo of understanding between DARPA and the USAF on Blackswift — also known as the HTV-3X — was signed in September 2007. The Blackswift HTV-3X did not receive needed funding and was canceled in October 2008.[2]
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[edit] Design and development
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[edit] Past projects
The aim was always to be able to deploy a craft from the USA, which could reach anywhere on the planet within an hour or two. The X-20 Dyna-Soar in 1957 was the first publicly acknowledged program — although this would have been launched vertically on a rocket and then glided back to Earth, as the Space Shuttle does, rather than taking off from a runway. Originally, the Shuttle itself was envisaged as a part-USAF operation, and separate military launch facilities were built at Vandenberg AFB at great cost, though never used. After the open DynaSoar USAF program from 1957-1963, spaceplanes went black. In the mid 1960s, the CIA began work on a high-Mach spyplane called ISINGLASS. This developed into Rheinberry, a design for a Mach-17 air-launched reconnaissance aircraft, which was later cancelled.[3] Black spending on spaceplanes probably peaked in the 1980s during the Strategic Defense Initiative when Science Dawn, Have Region and Copper Canyon focused efforts on building a spaceplane that could take off from a runway like an aircraft. In 1986, that emerged back into the white world, with President Ronald Reagan's announcement of the National AeroSpace Plane (NASP). When that project was canceled in 1992, the spaceplane efforts went black again, until the USAF announced FALCON in 2003, although FALCON at least initially was aimed to build smaller unmanned vehicles.
According to Henry F. Cooper, who was the Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) under President Reagan, spaceplane projects swallowed $4 billion in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (excluding the Space Shuttle). This does not include the 1950 and 1960s budgets for the Dynasoar, ISINGLASS, Rheinberry, and any 21st-century spaceplane project which might emerge under Falcon. He told the United States Congress in 2001 that all the USA had in return for those billions of dollars was "one crashed vehicle, a hangar queen, some drop-test articles and static displays".[4] Others would argue that Falcon — which has been allocated $170 million USD for budget year 2008[5] — and its predecessors maintain the USA's capability to develop a spaceplane quickly, should the need arise.
[edit] FALCON
The overall FALCON program announced in 2003 had two major components: a small launch vehicle for carrying payloads to orbit or launching the hypersonic weapons platform payload, and the hypersonic vehicle itself.[1]
[edit] Small Launch Vehicle
The DARPA FALCON solicitation in 2003 asked for bidders to do development work on proposed vehicles in a first phase of work, then one or more vendors would be selected to build and fly an actual launch vehicle. Companies which won first phase development contracts of $350,000 to $540,000 in November 2003 included:[6]
- Air Launch LLC, Reno Nevada
- Andrews Space Inc., Seattle Washington
- Exquadrum Inc., Victorville California
- KT Engineering, Huntsville Alabama
- Lockheed Martin Corp., New Orleans Louisiana
- Microcosm Inc., El Segundo California
- Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles Virginia
- Schafer Corp., Chelmsford Massachusetts
- Space Exploration Technologies, El Segundo California
Phase two for the SLV was won by Air Launch LLC, with a $17.8 million contract awarded in 2005 which provided for further test and development of their QuickReach air-dropped launch vehicle contract.
Additionally, in related Phase two work, DARPA purchased a flight of the Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Falcon 1 launch vehicle which was already under commercial development at the time, for approximately $6 million. The vehicle name and program name were coincidentally the same, but the Falcon launch vehicle predated the DARPA program, having started in 2002 with the founding of SpaceX.
[edit] Hypersonic Weapons System
The first phase of the HWS development was won by three bidders in 2003, each receiving a $1.2 to $1.5 million contract for hypersonic vehicle development:[6]
- Andrews Space Inc., Seattle, Wash.
- Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Palmdale, Calif.
- Northrop Grumman Corp., Air Combat Systems, El Segundo, Calif.
Lockheed Martin received the only Phase 2 HWS contract in 2004, to develop technologies further and reduce technology risk on the program.
[edit] Follow on hypersonic program
Following the Phase 2 HWS contract, DARPA and the US Air Force continued to develop the hypersonic weapons platform.
The program was to follow a set of flight tests with a series of hypersonic technology vehicles.[7]
The FALCON project includes:
- The X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) — a common aerial platform for hypersonic ICBMs and cruise missiles, as well as civilian RLVs and ELVs.
- The Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-1 (HTV-1) — a test concept, originally planned to fly in September 2007 now cancelled.[8]
- The HTV-2 — to fly in 2009
- The HTV-3X — Blackswift
- The Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) — a smaller engine to power CAVs, tests to begin by 2010
The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV) will be able to fly 9,000 nautical miles (17,000 km) in 2 hours with a payload of 12,000 lb (5,500 kg).[9] It is to fly at a high altitudes and achieve speeds of up to Mach 6.
Test flights are supported by NASA, the Space and Missile Systems Center, Lockheed Martin, Sandia National Laboratories and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Air Vehicles and Space Vehicles Directorates.
The program is launching the HTV-2 off the top of a rocket booster from Vandenberg Air Force Base in December 2008. The HTV-2 is a ten-foot-long glider which will fly 4,800 miles (7,700 km) across the Pacific to Kwajalein at Mach 20.[10]
[edit] Blackswift
The Blackswift is an aircraft capable of hypersonic flight being designed by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Boeing, and ATK.[11]
The USAF states "The Falcon Blackswift flight demonstration vehicle will be powered by a combination turbine engine and ramjet, an all-in-one power plant. The turbine engine accelerates the vehicle to around Mach 3 before the ramjet takes over and boosts the vehicle up to Mach 6." [12] Dr. Stephen Walker, the Deputy Director of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office, will be coordinating the project. He told the USAF website,
| “ | I will also be communicating to Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney on how important it is that we get the technical plan in place… I'm trying to build the bridge at the beginning of the program — to get the communication path flowing. | ” |
The Falcon program has announced the Mach 6 horizontal take-off Blackswift/HTV-3X. It is also launching the HTV-2 off the top of a rocket booster.[10] Falcon seems to be converging from two directions, on the ultimate goal of producing a hypersonic aircraft which can take off and land from a runway in the USA, and be anywhere in the world in an hour or two. Falcon is methodically proceeding toward a Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle. Dr. Walker said,
| “ | We need to fly some hypersonic vehicles — first the expendables, then the reusables — in order to prove to decision makers that this isn’t just a dream… We won't overcome the skepticism until we see some hypersonic vehicles flying. | ” |
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In October 2008 it was announced that HTV-3X or Blackswift did not receive needed funding in the fiscal year 2009 defense budget and had been canceled. The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle program will continue with reduced funding.[2][13]
[edit] Flight testing
DARPA intends to assemble two HTV-2s and conduct two flight tests in 2009. Each HTV-2 flight will be launched by a Minotaur IV Lite rocket. DARPA will use the flights to demonstrate thermal protection systems and aerodynamic control features.[2]
[edit] See also
- Aurora
- Rockwell X-30 (National AeroSpace Plane)
- Boeing X-51
[edit] References
- ^ a b FALCON Force Application and Launch from CONUS Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) PHASE I Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP) for BAA Solicitation 03-35, DARPA, 2003
- ^ a b c "Falcon Technology Demonstration Program HTV-3X Blackswift Test Bed". DARPA, October 2008.
- ^ Isinglass
- ^ Cooper Testimony
- ^ Space Weapons Spending in the FY 2008 Defense Budget
- ^ a b USAF DARPA FALCON Program, Air-attack.com, accessed 2009-04-02
- ^ Falcon fact sheet, January 2006, Darpa.mil.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Propulsion, Materials Test Successes Put Positive Spin on Falcon Prospects". Aviation Week, 22 July 2007.
- ^ a b Little, Geoffrey.Mach 20 or Bust, Weapons research may yet produce a true spaceplane. Air & Space Magazine, September 1, 2007.
- ^ Boeing Joins Lockheed Martin On Blackswift, Aviation Week.
- ^ DARPA official: AEDC 'critical' to hypersonics advancement
- ^ Trimble, Stephen. "DARPA cancels Blackswift hypersonic test bed". Flightglobal.com, 13 October 2008.
[edit] External links
- Falcon page and Blackswift proposal solicitation on Darpa.mil
- HCV page on Globalsecurity.org
- "Air Drops Dummy Rocket for Darpa's Falcon", Aviation Week,
- "Hypersonics Back in the News" on Defensetech.org
- "Going Hypersonic: Flying FALCON for Defense" and "Air Force Plans Flight Tests Of Hypersonic Vehicle" on Space.com
- "Pentagon Has Far-Reaching Defense Spacecraft in Works", Washington Post, March 16, 2005
- "US hypersonic aircraft projects face change as Congress urges joint technology office", Flight International, 30 May 2006
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