The US military is developing a new experimental aircraft that looks a lot like a cruise missile, one that is also capable of launching its own missiles.
The new X plane (X for “experimental”) has officially received a US Air Force designation and is now known as X-68A. It is an unmanned aerial vehicle (or UAV) that closely resembles a cruise missile, unmanned self-propelled vehicles that fly long distances within Earth’s atmosphereusually with jet engines. But unlike cruise missiles, which typically carry an explosive munition (warhead), the X-68A is designed to launch from another aircraft and then launch its own air-to-air weapons.
Get ready to fly
Before the X-68A can fly for the first time, the vehicle must undergo extensive testing. DARPA published a February 17 statement which describes the latest tests they have been working on for the experimental aircraft. A few of these include testing the X-68A inside a full-scale wind tunnel, as well as trials to see how the vehicle performs with parachute recovery and weapon release systems.
Casey said these tests “demonstrate significant progress” for the X-plane’s capabilities. “Since we started the program, we have made significant progress in the detailed design of a complex aircraft and its actuation mechanisms to go from a captive store to a flying vehicle,” Casey said.
Essentially, the research team must ensure that the X-68A can leave the mother ship safely, so there is no risk to the pilot flying the jet carrying it. They also need to ensure that the X-68A can eject its own weapons while flying at high speed.
The first test flights, which could happen as early as the end of this year, will prove “safe and effective use of the X-68A from an F-15 Eagle” and demonstrate the vehicle’s ability to “safely eject a captured sub-weapon,” a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems spokesperson wrote in a Feb. 19. announcement.
In other words, the flights will test the X-68A’s ability to launch from another aircraft as a missile, and then launch its own missiles.
This concept of using vehicles that can be used from another aircraft while in the air is intended to work with different types of aircraft, such as fighters and bombers. DARPA calls this “host platform agnostic”.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) serves as the military’s research arm, often working on moonshot technologies that continue to have far-reaching impacts on society. For example, DARPA previously helped design and develop the X-37, a reusable spacecraft that served as a precursor to US Space Force X-37B.
