New Air-Launched Small Missile (ALSM) Flight Testbed for Hypersonic Systems

Bui, Trong T. and Lux, David P. and Stenger, Michael T. and Munson, Michael J. and Teate, George F. (2007) New Air-Launched Small Missile (ALSM) Flight Testbed for Hypersonic Systems. Technical Report NASA/TM-2007-214624, Research and Engineering, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

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Abstract

The Phoenix Air-Launched Small Missile (ALSM) flight testbed was conceived and is proposed to help address the lack of quick-turnaround and cost-effective hypersonic flight research capabilities. The Phoenix ALSM testbed results from utilization of the United States Navy Phoenix AIM-54 (Hughes Aircraft Company, now Raytheon Company, Waltham, Massachusetts) long-range, guided air-to-air missile and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Dryden Flight Research Center (Edwards, California) F-15B (McDonnell Douglas, now the Boeing Company, Chicago, Illinois) testbed airplane. The retirement of the Phoenix AIM-54 missiles from fleet operation has presented an opportunity for converting this flight asset into a new flight testbed. This cost-effective new platform will fill the gap in the test and evaluation of hypersonic systems for flight Mach numbers ranging from 3 to 5. Preliminary studies indicate that the Phoenix missile is a highly capable platform; when launched from a high-performance airplane, the guided Phoenix missile can boost research payloads to low hypersonic Mach numbers, enabling flight research in the supersonic-to-hypersonic transitional flight envelope. Experience gained from developing and operating the Phoenix ALSM testbed will assist the development and operation of future higher-performance ALSM flight testbeds as well as responsive microsatellite-small-payload air-launched space boosters.

EPrint Type:	NASA Technical Memorandum
Keywords:	Aerodynamics, F-15B aircraft, Flight research, Hypersonics, Phoenix AIM-54 missile, Propulsion, Scramjet
Subjects:	Aircraft/Project: F-15B (12 - 20) Astronautics: (15) Launch Vehicles And Launch Operations (01 - 09) Aeronautics: (07) Aircraft Propulsion And Power (01 - 09) Aeronautics: (02) Aerodynamics (01 - 09) Aeronautics: (01) Aeronautics - General (12 - 20) Astronautics: (20) Spacecraft Propulsion And Power
ID Code:	1698
Deposited On:	15 August 2007
Additional Information:	22 pages. Also presented as AIAA-2006-0221 at the 44th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, January 9-12, 2006, Reno, Nevada. Bui, Lux, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center; Stenger, Munson, Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, China Lake, California; Teate, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Edwards, California.