By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Air Force plan to fly a prototype “hypersonic” bomber by 2030 capable of multi-mission high-speed strike and surveillance operations traveling at speeds of Mach 5, an unprecedented development which could alter the global balance of power in a substantial way.
The reason is simple, speed and detectability. Renderings of a “concept” NEXTrs (published in The Next Big Future show an elongated, stealthy looking bomber which, if combined with speeds of Mach 5, might arguably be completely undetectable in today’s threat environment. There are other images or renderings of potential hypersonic bombers, some of which simply refer to or show Lockheed Martin’s “rumored to exist” DarkStar SR-72 shown in Hollywood’s Maverick. The movie images, some of which may have been conceptual in nature or simply purely fictional, depict a manned fighter jet traveling at hypersonic speeds. This is not something that is known to be possible at the moment, and the DarkStar SR-72 appears more like a drone or fighter jet than a bomber.
The bomber shown in the NextBigFuture essay looks closer to a stealthy B-1B large aircraft with a cylinder-like front section and a blended wing-body emerging toward the back end of an elongated fuselage. The image does seem to leave room for a large payload capacity by virtue of the rounded or large airframe, and the rendering shows two “tails” or “fins” attached at the end of the aircraft for vectoring. Surely the aerodynamics of a vehicle of this kind, obviously looking closely at boundary layer (air flow) phenomenology, seek to optimize speed, stealth and steady flight. A smooth or “laminar” air flow enables stable flight, something quite difficult to sustain at hypersonic speeds given the high temperatures.
Simply too fast
Simple speed would prevent ground or air based radar from establishing a continuous target track, as the aircraft will transition from one radar aperture or field of view to another much too quickly for any kind of tracking technology to actually see a “target.” In combination with speed, stealth properties could likely engender a circumstance wherein a bomber of this nature remained completely “unseen.”
Certainly hypersonic drones and weapons have been in development for quite some time in terms of both concept and hardware, reaching various levels of maturity. However, should a hypersonic bomber come into existence, it will emerge from DARPA’s formerly secret Aerospace Projects Office tasked with early conceptual and subcomponent or engineering work on the bomber. An interesting write up on the project in Next Big Future explains that DARPA is working closely with the Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA to advance conceptual work, with the notional goal or aim of having an airborne prototype by the end of the decade.
“It will use a turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) propulsion system, with an estimated thrust range of 30,000-38,000 lbf, using conventional fuel and metallic construction. It should be able transition from traditional turbine engines to hypersonic speeds, likely exceeding Mach 5, enabling rapid, responsive strikes against heavily defended targets,” Next Big Future writes.
This APO office has for several years been working on what the Pentagon, DARPA and the AFRL refer to as Next Generation Responsive Strike. This effort helped generate the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) 6th-generation stealth aircraft and is now focused upon this so-called “Y-plane” hypersonic bomber.
Hypersonic bomber Surprise Attack
The image or conceptual rendering published in the article does not clearly show a “cockpit” or glass viewing area from which a pilot might operate the aircraft, something which raises the question as to whether it will be manned. Is a large and heavily armed bomber such as this likely to be manned? Or unmanned? Perhaps both, like the B-21, however weapons developers have for many years indicated that humans simply could not survive the “heat” generated by hypersonic speeds.
However, the Pentagon and the service research laboratories have in recent years been vigorously experimenting with combinations of “heat-resistant” composite materials in support of hypersonic weapons technology. Should there be an emerging way in which humans could survive and be protected from extreme temperatures amid hypersonic flight, there would be yet another paradigm-changing breakthrough of great significance.
Stealth & Speed
Combined with a measure of stealth, an armed bomber traveling at hypersonic speeds could achieve a completely unprecedented measure of surprise. A broadband stealth aircraft such as the B-2 is designed to strike without an enemy knowing it is even there, given its stealth properties and ability to elude both surveillance radar and “engagement” radar. A stealthy bomber traveling at Mach 5, however, would introduce an even greater ability to “strike” without being detected or “targetable” in some way.
“The goal is to initiate a formal design and development phase within five years, potentially commissioning a prototype by 2030. This effort aligns with the U.S. Air Force’s exploration of long-term high-speed strike options, positioning the NextRS bomber as a complement to or evolution beyond existing platforms,” the NextBigFuture writes.
This essay also appeared in 1945 Magazine
Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University
This essay also appeared in 1945 Magazine
