Image source: topwar.ru
The French company ONERA has shown the first conceptual model of a hypersonic aircraft. The work is being carried out within the framework of the Espadon project. They started about four years ago, but became known only recently.
- ONERA told EDR On-Line.
According to the developer, the creation of an airplane, not a rocket, will allow you to perform a wide range of missions. Its flight range should exceed 1000 km.
Image source: topwar.ru
For the successful outcome of the project, a significant range of problems will have to be solved, in particular, overheating, the need for new materials, engine and aerodynamics, the mechanism for launching weapons from internal compartments at hypersonic speed.
Rene Mathuren, director of defense programs at ONERA, made it clear that an aircraft flying at a speed of more than mach 5 will appear no earlier than the 2040s-2050s. ONERA currently does not aim to design a machine, but its goal is to identify the technologies needed to create it. The project is funded internally, although it was launched at the request of the French Defense Ministry.
