Waverider

For other uses, see Waverider (disambiguation).

The Boeing X-51 forebody is an example of cone-derived waverider
The Chinese Project 0901 Flying Vehicle of CASIC shows another configuration of waverider.
Small-scale model of the Soviet/Russian Ayaks aircraft exposed at the 1993 MAKS Air Show, Moscow. It is still currently under development

A waverider is a hypersonic aircraft design that improves its supersonic lift-to-drag ratio by using the shock waves being generated by its own flight as a lifting surface, a phenomenon known as compression lift.

The waverider remains a well-studied design for high-speed aircraft in the Mach 5 and higher hypersonic regime, although no such design has yet entered production. The Boeing X-51 scramjet demonstration aircraft was tested from 2010 to 2013. In its final test flight, it reached a speed of Mach 5.1 (5,400 km/h; 3,400 mph).[1][2]

  1. ^ Warwick, Graham. "First X-51A Hypersonic Flight Deemed Success"[permanent dead link]. Aviation Week & Space Technology, 26 May 2010. [dead link]
  2. ^ "Experimental aircraft speeds to more than 3,000 mph in test flight". Los Angeles Times. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.