Hypersonic fighters for the RAF

[2fast748]

Vapourware or reality?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/17/raf-de...

They'd be awesome pieces of kit but I'm not sure we'll ever see them.

[Gary29]

£10M doesn't go far in aviation.

[Ayahuasca]

I think the 10mil is just for initial studies.

If it is built it is unlikely to be manned. So it would be a very fast drone.

Makes one wonder where the boundary between guided missile and 'fighter' is.

[chunkytfg]

Ayahuasca said:

Makes one wonder where the boundary between guided missile and 'fighter' is.

My guess would be if it was designed to come back or not! Haha

[louiebaby]

Gary29 said:

£10m doesn't go far in aviation.

Is this not just a way to get some more funding to the SABRE project:

https://www.reactionengines.co.uk/sabre

???

[PorkRind]

Gary29 said:

£10M doesn't go far in aviation.

Yeah, was thinking the same, 100's of millions would be an accurate figure if they were serious?! Unless this is just a feasibility study or a way of keeping some people in jobs for a bit..

[Zetec-S]

PorkRind said:

Gary29 said:

£10M doesn't go far in aviation.

Yeah, was thinking the same, 100's of millions would be an accurate figure if they were serious?! Unless this is just a feasibility study or a way of keeping some people in jobs for a bit..

The MoD are very good at spending money on feasibility studies.

[chunder27]

indeed they are.

And then usually, selling those finding on to the Americans

[anonymous-user]

2fast748 said:

Vapourware or reality?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/17/raf-de...

They'd be awesome pieces of kit but I'm not sure we'll ever see them.

Sorry, how are these useful?

You can't go supersonic, let alone hypersonic, over built up land masses, and "Intercepts" are only useful against adversaries with conventional air forces, which i'm pretty sure is almost as much a relic of the past as swords and red tunics surely?

[Dr Jekyll]

Max_Torque said:

Sorry, how are these useful?

You can't go supersonic, let alone hypersonic, over built up land masses, and "Intercepts" are only useful against adversaries with conventional air forces, which i'm pretty sure is almost as much a relic of the past as swords and red tunics surely?

You realise the RAF intercepts Russian aircraft on a regular basis?

And yes, you can go supersonic over a built up land mass, especially if you are going to intercept someone.

[thegreenhell]

Dr Jekyll said:

You realise the RAF intercepts Russian aircraft on a regular basis?

And yes, you can go supersonic over a built up land mass, especially if you are going to intercept someone.

It's not just Russian jets that have to be intercepted. This was in the news just yesterday about a commercial flight being intercepted at supersonic speeds over Essex and escorted back to Stansted due to a disruptive passenger.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-490178...

[maffski]

louiebaby said:

Is this not just a way to get some more funding to the SABRE project:

https://www.reactionengines.co.uk/sabre

???

British military scrambles to speed up work on hypersonic engines, weapons

BAE, Rolls-Royce and Reaction Engines. The pre-cooler has apparently passed ground tests at a simulated Mach 3 and (some) of this funding is to test it pre-cooling for an EJ200

[shouldbworking]

Seems crazy to me. Hypersonic weapons, yes crack on, no need for long lasting heat resistant coatings and much smaller so easier to manage drag.

Platforms want to go the other way. Slow with long loiter times but stuffed to the gills with hypersonic weapons

[Alex Z]

Max_Torque said:

Sorry, how are these useful?

You can't go supersonic, let alone hypersonic, over built up land masses, and "Intercepts" are only useful against adversaries with conventional air forces, which i'm pretty sure is almost as much a relic of the past as swords and red tunics surely?

Of course they can go supersonic over land. There’s rules in place to reduce disturbance which means they don’t do this as a matter of course but they will break the sound barrier in urgent situations