I like your thinking, but lasers wouldn't work as quickly as microwaves. Would be pretty handy as an anti-boarding party weapon.
MrDakka
mrdakka
What do you mean by a ducted turbofan? Technically a turbofan is a ducted fan which is driven by a gas turbine. The AW609 TiltRotor is powered by turboprops; are you asking why the props aren't shrouded?
That's a lot of ammo
That sucks, but sadly I can't say I'm surprised. Alot of the documentation for experimental prototypes and company pet projects from back in the day usually ended up destroyed, lost, and/or forgotten
Nice youtube find. But have you heard of HiBEX? It's even quicker and even crazier; I get the feeling that engineers back then were on cocaine fueled design binges...
I don't think there ever has been a plane that hit Mach 3 at around sea level. The closest I can think of are Russian Sunburns and maybe the Indian Brahmos antiship missiles. All I know is that is some really nasty aerothermal heating
Well it did start Convair's love of delta wings eventually leading to the F-106 Delta Dart
Mach 3+ in a prototype? At what altitude? I'd like to see some hard numbers and engineering documents to back this up
Mach 2+ capable, possible given some minor tweaking. However, I'm calling BS on beyond Mach 3, unless they were planning on severely redesigning the airframe and/or quite likely upgrading their engines and materials
Where does the blue stuff come out of to go faster?
I knew I wasn't the only one who thought this would be an awesome drifting ramp that launches you into the air over a cliff while screaming "Fuck you, gravity!" as you ignite the J/RATO rockets for the ultimate boost experience of your life.
Dat display
Obligatory: In Soviet Russia, you armor tank
Now playing
Double heresy never looked so good
Is tank/armored vehicle desant still a thing?
FWIW
The quirk is probably reliably shaping the detonation and rarefaction waves to compress the core to criticality. Machining the components was probably a bitch to do.
Detonation physics is not for the feeble minded
Just look up the Fulda Gap; it would've been a literal superhighway for Soviet armor columns straight into Europe. When you're facing tens of thousands of Soviet tanks backed up by a literal fuckton of mechanized infantry, artillery and CAS, nuclear weapons are your best bet at evening the odds.