The
Hyrpersonic Cruise Missile will be able to travel more than 600 miles in less then 10 minutes. With this speed, the army would be able to attack almost any target they want in less than a hour. With this power, also comes fear of many things. In this case the Pentagon fears that this fire power may
start a Nuclear War. But the Military is convinced that with this missile, they may be able to strike out against enemies in matter of minutes or hours. This enemy may be terrorists or smuggled nuclear or arms dealers. "We know how to strike precisely. We know how to strike at long distances," says Kehler, whose office is in charge of the Defense Department's Global Strike mission. "What's different now is this sense of time." This missile may be a good thing to use to save lives, but it costs $60 million.
The
cruise missile can travel at 3600 MPH or March 5. This missile is able to anywhere on the face of the Earth in at least 60 minutes. Protests started that this missile could start a nuclear war. Compared with the Tomahawk Missile which travels at a mere 550 MPH, the X51 gives the US the ability to strike enemies quickly before they can evade.
The
warheads are filled with tungsten rods with twice the strength of steel. Just above the target, the warheads detonate, showering the area with thousands of rods-each one up to 12 times as destructive as a .50-caliber bullet. Anything within 3000 sq. ft. of
this whirling, metallic storm is obliterated. The X-51 Will be the most advanced cruise / long distance missile in the world when it is completed.
X-51 is a "wave rider," with a sharp nose shaped to make the waves break at precisely the right angle. All of the pressure is directed beneath the missile, lifting it up, instead.
The waves also compress the air, as it passes through them. That’s critical for the X-51. Because unlike a rocket, say, the aircraft doesn’t carry an oxidizer, to mix and burn with its fuel. Unlike a jet, it doesn’t squeeze the air with a turbine. In fact, the X-51 barely has any moving parts at all. It’s an
"air breather." The shock waves do most of the compression work.
The air passes into an inlet at the bottom of the X-51, mixes with a mist of JP-7 diesel jet fuel, and is lit on fire at several spots, one after the next. That produces tremendous thrust â?? and unimaginable heat, up to 4500 degrees. The X-51 uses the warmth, too. The diesel fuel cools the walls of the machine, to keep the thing from melting. As the fuel absorbs all that heat, the diesel breaks down â?? making it easier to burn, when the air comes whooshing through. And the cycle starts again, just a ten-thousandth of a second after it begins.
