PAK-DA Bomber Capable Of Launching Nuclear Weapons From Space

Russia’s Hypersonic Rocket-like-Jet - Five Times Speed of Sound

Russia intends developing a hypersonic rocket like jet that could strike targets from space with nuclear missiles. PAK-DA Bomber, Flying five times the speed of sound, the rocket would be capable of reaching any point on the earth in less than two hours. Said to be the first of its kind, it would be capable of dropping a nuclear warhead before coming back to its base in Russia. According to Colonel Alexei Solodovnikov, who has been working on the project, by 2020, a well-designed engine will be established.

He had informed that PAK-DA Bomber would be a strategic aircraft and will fly into outer space in order to strike; utilising nuclear bombs and will then return to the airfield. The test engine for the PAK-DA bomber is said to be shown at the Army 2016 International Military Technology Forum near Moscow in September.

The commander of Russian Strategic Missile Forces, Colonel General Sergei Karakayev, has confirmed that the model engine for the PAK-DA Bomber has been built and has been tested successfully. He had stated that `an engine for a promising space plane has been created at Strategic Rocket Forces Academy and the unit’s operational ability has been verified.The notion is that the bomber would be taking off from a normal home airfield to patrol Russian airspace’.

Strike Target with Nuclear Warhead & Return to Home Base

He further added that on command it will ascend into outer space, striking a target with nuclear warheads and return to its home base. It will be using hypersonic speed in rocket mode. As per the Strategic Missile Forces Academy, the engine would be operated in two modes wherein one would be utilising kerosene fuel for conventional flight while the other would be using methane and oxygen to power the craft into space.

Reaction Engines, a British firm states that its own hypersonic engine would be ready by 2020. Over £7.5 million has been invested by the European Space Agency towards the development of the SABRE engine that would enable aircraft to fly anywhere in four hours. The U.S. officials have not been revealed whether their own next generation bomber would be flying at hypersonic speed, though the US Air Force in 2007 had stated that its aircraft would probably be subsonic in order to control the cost. Flying hypersonic would mean flying at Mach 5, five times the speed of sound at around 3,840mph or quicker.

Taranis Aircraft – Most Advanced Built by British

The closest programme of Britain to the Russian hypersonic jet is said to be a confidential stealth drone which is being developed by BAE Systems and the £200 million Taranis aircraft is said to be the most advanced built by the British engineers. It is likely to offer the basis for fleets in supersonic unmanned bombers which could attack into the enemy territory while escaping sophisticated defences. A RAF source had commented that the RAF has a futuristic programme `Taranis’ which is stealth drone having similar capabilities though does not operate in outer atmosphere.

The presently fastest jet of Britain is the Eurofighter Typhoon which tends to have a top speed of about Mach 2 or 1,550 mph. With regards to US capabilities compared to the Russians’ the source of RAF has stated that whatever one can imagine in the wildest dreams, the US has perhaps been ahead by thirty years on it. If the Russians have been developing it, the US would already be much ahead.

4,000mph Hypersonic Plane Backs Revolutionary Sabre Engine

Our world is becoming so fast that even a few minutes or seconds delay can cause huge losses and problems for us. Transportation and communication sector has gone through a rapid phase of development in the recent past which helped in lowering the costs and time taken for travel along with increasing the mobility.

European Space Agency is looking to make people lives more fast literally by investing $11 million for developing a hypersonic engine with the ability to fly anywhere across the planet within four hours. Reaction Engines has landed up with the job of developing such engine turbine which encompasses the technologies of both jet and rocket in order to achieve an unbelievable five times the speed of sound. Reaction Engines have confirmed that they will be able to come up with the first prototype for testing by the year 2020.

Reaction Engines were going through the period of securing investment from the companies and agencies. So far it has secured about $66 million from the British government and $55 million from the UK Space Agency. The development of the aircraft is still in its preliminary stages and it will take about 20 more years to make it reality on a grand scale.

How Sabre Jet engine works? 

Reaction Engines are working on the revolutionary Sabre engine which would eventually allow aircrafts to take off from the runway and get to the fives times the speed of sound within few seconds. Later on aircraft can switch to the rocket mode thereby propelling the craft right into the orbit. The important part about the Sabre engine is that it works on the theme of burning the atmospheric air in its combustion chambers. Then it makes use of the heat to turbo-charge its engine.

It should be noted that currently rockets have to carry extremely expensive fuel in the name of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen in order to power. Sabre engine will certainly help in cutting down the cost as it creates its own liquid oxygen which happens within a blink of an eye. Sabre engine comes in the new class of aerospace engine which has been designed to enable crafts to get to five times the speed of light from the standstill within few seconds.

Sabre Engine is set to revolutionise the transportation

Once the aircraft loaded with the Sabre engine gets its space then it will be able to switch to the rocket mode. In the rocket mode aircraft can travel the orbit for a stimulated period of 36 hours. Thereby such aircrafts can even be used for launching the satellites into the orbit at a fraction of current costs.

UK Space Agency is investing and collaborating with the Reaction Engines to develop the Sabre engine and aircraft which can be used to travel longer distances within shortest time intervals. UK Space Agency has invested 60 million pounds in 2013 with an aim of developing some ground breaking technology and Sabre engine is a result of its effort.