Ramjet engine tested by the Chinese

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
(cont)
If no photo or video of the Waverider in question has been disclosed yet, we know at least that this machine would not be very large in size. Indeed, the solid propellant launcher that was used to carry the craft to the test altitude and provide the necessary initial velocity is relatively small, which we estimate should be less than 8 meters long. and 1.3 meters in diameter.

It is even plausible that it is the same booster of the ballistic missile DF-11 (diameter 0.86 meters) since the release of the CAAA evoked the 4th Academy of the group CASIC like designer of the launcher, whereas the DF-11 is precisely a former product of this entity (following the merger with Base 066).

Knowing that the release spoke of the ejection of the cap and the separation of the machine from the launcher "under the high dynamic pressure in hypersonic regime", it is estimated that the Waverider CAAA should not exceed 3 meters in length and a meter in span. In this dimension, it practically excludes it from being propelled, even if the Chinese institution specified that the craft was flying in a "controlled" way.

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Excerpt from a CAWA research paper on wind tunnel testing of Waverider models in 2004.

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Excerpt from a CAAV 2015 patent filed on Waverider.

It should be noted that other details, including the measurements made during this test flight, were mentioned in
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, a daily co-administered by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, according to which the Waverider machine has embarked instruments to collect physical and thermal data, as well as those on the interference of separation and the natural / artificial transition flux of the boundary layer.

Also according to this article, it is thanks to the development program of this machine "serving as a hypersonic test bench" that the CAAA engineers were able to realize the "industrialization of a Waverider type flying machine" and to check "the Hypersonic flight controls in static instability and high maneuverability cornering ".

They have also implemented for the first time micro-vortex generators to control the separation between the experimental machine and its launcher, as well as high-conductivity thermal protection technologies.

As for the exact location of the test, we only know that the launcher took off from a shooting site in the west of China. If we take the low range of the revealed figures, namely the minimum speed of Mach 5.5 and the duration of more than 400 seconds, we deduce that the Chinese Waverider has traveled a distance of at least 677 km. The test area should therefore be deep enough in this case and prohibited from flying over any aircraft from the ground level to an altitude of at least 30,000 meters.

There is indeed a message to aircrafts (NOTAM) that meets these criteria, but the associated flight ban is only active between 10h38 and 11h53 Beijing time, while according to the official statement the takeoff of Xing Kong 2 took place the same day but much earlier, around 6:41.

Be that as it may, the CAAA Waverider craft and launcher have taken off from the Korla test site in Xinjiang Province, or from the Jiuquan Space Center in the Gobi Desert.

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A3198 / 18
Q) ZWUQ / QARLT / IV / NBO / E /
000/999 / A) ZWUQ B) 1808030238 C) 1808030353
E) THE SEGMENT ESDEX-RUSDI OF ATS RTE W192 CLSD.
F) GND G) UNL

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The NOTAM of August 3rd 2018 on zone (Image: East Pendulum)

It should be noted that unlike the
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- that is, the CALT Institute MF-1 (CASC group) and the "Ling Yun" (凌云) of the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) - who launch from a rail obliquely, the CAAA Xing Kong 2 takes off vertically from a launch tube as a missile.

It is probably for this reason that many Chinese media have already called the Xing Kong 2 a "weapon", while obviously the machine is at this stage only an experimental platform.

Moreover, it is interesting to note that CAAA, a subsidiary of the CASC group, does not seem to have appealed to the CALT Institute, the largest of the main designers of ballistic missiles and space launchers in China, and prefers to turn to the competitor of his parent company to find the carrier rocket of his Waverider.

For the moment, we do not know the real reason for this inter-group collaboration, but one of the possible explanations is that the project is national, or in the process of becoming one, in which case the subject should logically remain discreet. Visibly this is not the case since the test was revealed the same day, which is (very) unusual in China.

Finally, if the Xing Kong 2 is the "first hypersonic Chinese Waverider configuration", as pointed out by its designer CAAA in the release, this amounts to saying that the military hypersonic glider, the one that
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or DF-ZF previously, would probably be of a different aerodynamic configuration ...

To be continued.
 

danielchin

Junior Member
sometimes our wishful mind makes us see things?

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Ultra

Junior Member
In a ramjet the fuel burns in a subsonic airflow. I remember seeing in 1955 a Dutch helicopter that flew thanks to a pair of ramjets fitted to its rotor tips. Those tips were of course subsonic but the noise was, even at a considerable distance, horrific.


1955? Just how old are you Delft?!!?
They had miniturized ramjet fitted on helicopters back then?
 

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
Is the high altitude balloon just to test hypersonic vehicles or are they testing it as a platform to launch hypersonic vehicles? I wonder if this is also how they tested the ASBM warhead. People said that the ASBM was never tested because it can be tracked by satellite when launched. It would certainly make it difficult for other countries' knowledge of such a test.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
Slowly but surely they perfect this hypersonic vehicle system. Give it year or two they will have the system in production
China takes step towards precision warheads for unstoppable nuclear weapon, state media says
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Three hypersonic aircraft designs tested with adjustable speed, enabling better flight control and improved aiming accuracy

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 29 September, 2018, 10:02pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 29 September, 2018, 11:31pm

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Tests of three scaled-down models of “wide-speed-range vehicles”, which can fly at from hypersonic velocity to lower than the speed of sound, were carried out on September 21 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

In the news footage, three models representing differently shaped designs, code named D18-1S, D18-2S and D18-3S, were lifted and then dropped from a balloon.

This was China’s first test of this type of hypersonic aircraft, whose speed will be adjustable, meaning its scientists are working on another major aim – precision strike – towards an unstoppable nuclear-capable weapon.

Last month, Chinese scientists conducted their first experimental flight of a hypersonic glider named Starry Sky 2 that was launched by rocket and then flew on its own shock wave at Mach 6 (six times the speed of sound, or 7,344km/h).

Once fully developed, its sheer speed would be capable of penetrating any anti-missile defence system currently available.

The wide-speed-range aircraft, meanwhile, will have additional capability to slow down and fly in a stable mode at a lower velocity, which allows it in the terminal stage to aim, adjust trajectory and position, and strike targets more precisely, according to military observers.


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Whereas the Starry Sky 2 test tried out the hypersonic stage, last week’s test was to verify some technical details around the sound speed.

“Their technologies can be inter-complementary,” said military commentator Song Zhongping, based in Hong Kong. “They can be combined together and make a hypersonic missile.”

Researchers measured the respective aerodynamic features of three different design shapes, and recorded their processes of falling, accelerating, breaking the sonic barrier, aerodynamic rebound, parachute opening, landing and retrieving, while collecting data, the CCTV report said.

Song said it was to compare and choose from the three designs. There will be further wind tunnel tests with larger or real-size models before finalising the aerodynamic configuration of the vehicle.

China has been testing hypersonic glide vehicles since 2014. The Starry Sky 2 was the first to use the “waverider” technology, which has a flatter, wedge-shaped fuselage to improve its supersonic lift-to-drag ratio.

Among the latest models, the two green ones seen in the test video had a shape similar to Starry Sky 2’s waverider design. But the black model had a different shape, with double-deck wings.

In a paper published in February, the Institute of Mechanics of Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed this design, claiming the “I” shape could produce 60 per cent higher lift coefficient than the waverider.

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With a good aerodynamic shape design, there can be more potential military applications for wide-speed-range aircraft. For instance, it could be fitted with its own engine and made into a hypersonic drone, which can carry out many kinds of missions, said Beijing military observer Zhou Chenming.

In the long term, the wide-speed-range aircraft could also be used for civilian purposes, such as aerospace planes or manned hypersonic planes.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: China tests hypersonic aircraft models in further step to precision weapons
 

SamuraiBlue

Captain
Is the high altitude balloon just to test hypersonic vehicles or are they testing it as a platform to launch hypersonic vehicles? I wonder if this is also how they tested the ASBM warhead. People said that the ASBM was never tested because it can be tracked by satellite when launched. It would certainly make it difficult for other countries' knowledge of such a test.
I believe that will not be possible with the added weight and without the inertia gained from the launch vehicle. It might reach the speed of mach 1~1.5 but no where near the speed they were intended for.
 

taxiya

Brigadier
Registered Member
Is the high altitude balloon just to test hypersonic vehicles or are they testing it as a platform to launch hypersonic vehicles? I wonder if this is also how they tested the ASBM warhead. People said that the ASBM was never tested because it can be tracked by satellite when launched. It would certainly make it difficult for other countries' knowledge of such a test.
It is only for concept verification, not an operational system. The developer of the three vehicles are not the one who had their vehicle on top of the rockets.
 
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