DARPA missile accidentally destroyed during flight test, report says

Scramjet inadvertently separated from a B-52 carrier aircraft during a captive-carry flight test, sources say

An experimental missile has been accidentally destroyed during a recent test accident, according to a report.

A scramjet-powered missile was destroyed when it inadvertently separated from a B-52 carrier aircraft during a captive-carry flight test, sources told Aviation Week.

The missile was developed under a joint Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Air Force Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) programme, the outlet said.

The agency of the Department of Defence declined to provide any details when contacted by Aviation Week.

“Details of those flight demonstrations are classified,” a DARPA spokesman said.

The accident was thought to have involved an aircraft from the 419th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards AFB, California, and is still under investigation.

Scramjets allow crafts to maximise their speed by taking the oxygen needed by the engine from the atmosphere passing through the vehicle, instead of from a tank onboard, making the craft smaller, lighter and faster.

Aviation Week reported that pieces of the instrumented test article were recovered after the accident.

The outlet deduced that the payload inadvertently detached from the B-52 in flight, possibly over land possibly in a designated test range.

The HAWC programme is already several months behind its original schedule, which was supposed to debut its first flight in 2019.

Captive-carry and free-flight tests for both HAWC concepts were thought to have occurred by the end of 2019, however, no reports had been made within this time frame, the outlet said.