X-47B takes to skies for first time

Edwards became the site of another first when Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy successfully conducted the first flight of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration aircraft here Feb. 4.The fighter-size unmanned aircraft took off at 2:09 p.m. and successfully flew the 29 minutes that was

X-47B wins Collier Trophy

For more than 100 years, men and women dedicated to the advancement of aviation and aerospace technology have had their efforts recognized with the Robert J. Collier Trophy. The 525-pound trophy, which is now on permanent display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, is awarded for

X-51 getting ready for first flight

There's some pretty exciting stuff going on at Edwards Air Force Base as the flight test center team gets ready to conduct an awe-inspiring X-51 first flight.The plan is to air launch the X-51A WaveRider using an expendable solid rocket booster from under the wing of a B-52, this spring.Lt. Col.

X-51 testers perform perfectly during imperfect mission

Although the second flight test of the X-51A Waverider scramjet ended prematurely, the coordination and performance of the Hypersonics Combined Test Force and the 419th Flight Test Squadron was flawless.More than 100 people from both Team Edwards and Naval Air Station Point Mugu took part in the

X-51A conducts flight test

An X-51A Waverider flight test vehicle successfully made the longest ever supersonic combustion ramjet-powered hypersonic flight today off the Southern California coast.The more than 200-second burn by the X-51's Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne-built air breathing scramjet engine accelerated the vehicle

X-51A WaveRider gets first ride aboard B-52

In a flight test reminiscent of the early days of the historic X-15 program 50 years earlier, the X-51A Waverider was carried aloft for the first time over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 9 by an Air Force Flight Test Center B-52H Stratofortress.The "captive carry" test was a key

X-51A WaveRider gets first ride aboard B-52

X-51A WaveRider meets B-52

Airmen successfully mated the X-51A WaveRider flight test vehicle to a B-52 Stratofortress at Edwards Air Force Base July 17. The fit check followed integration earlier in the month of the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne scramjet propulsion system into the X-51 at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif.

X-56A crashes during flight test

An Air Force Research Laboratory-sponsored X-56A unmanned air vehicle crashed Nov. 19 at approximately 9:30 Pacific Daylight Time on Rogers Dry Lakebed test range at Edwards AFB, California. The mishap occurred shortly after takeoff.Initial estimates report severe damage to the vehicle. There are no

XCITE aims to reduce timeline from idea to reality

In a low-ceilinged room off a nondescript hallway down a steep flight of stairs beneath an unremarkable building, a group of people meet to brainstorm, exchange ideas and formulate plans to further the goals of their organization.   It sounds like a scene from a movie about evil scientists and world