The experimental aircraft sighting was seen as it was being brought to NASA’s Fort Worth, Texas headquarters. A photographer took this picture of the plane covered in blue shrouds being transported by a semi-trailer truck in Marana, Arizona earlier this week.
Lockheed Martin confirmed to The War Zone that the X-59 was brought in in Texas for structural tests before bringing it back to Palmdale for an initial round of flight testing. Palmdale is well known for hosting the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet.
The X-59 QueSST program aims to explore technologies that can dramatically reduce the sound and impact of sonic booms on aircraft flying faster than the speed of sound. It is known that airplanes that fly faster than the speed of sound have several problems, such as very loud noises and loud shocks.
The very noisy sound of the aircraft and the loud shaking when flying made the military limit training with supersonic aircraft. If the X-59’s silent supersonic jet program is successful, it will also be useful in combat operations missions.
To keep the cost of the X-59 program down, Lockheed Martin made the design as simple and cost-effective as possible. Lockheed Martin also uses many components from aircraft that have been made before. (Read also; Russia Tests Carrier Killer Supersonic Missile for the First Time )
“Landing gear (taken) from an Air Force F-16 fighter, the cockpit canopy from the NASA T-38 trainer aircraft, the propulsion system from the U-2 spy plane, and the control stick from the F-117 stealth fighter. All for use on NASA’s newest aircraft (X-59),” said NASA’s statement quoted by SINDOnews from the war zone page, Saturday (12/25/2021).
The aircraft is powered by a single modified General Electric F414 engine, taken from engine variants commonly used by Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler jets, as well as the Saab Gripen fighter jet. So only about 10% of the designs are completely using the new material.
Part of that is the use of composite skin on one large part of the wing to help prove the advanced manufacturing techniques on the X-59 supersonic jet. Skunk Works made the X-59 supersonic jet its first project to truly take advantage of its voice-tapping capabilities with highly automated robots and systems.
–One of the unusual designs of the X-59 resulted in poor pilot visibility. However, this design allows the entire forward end of the aircraft to be further optimized for supersonic flight with sonic-boom suppression capability. (Read also; This is the secret of Russian hypersonic missiles not detected by radar )
To help pilots flying the X-59 get good visibility, a remote vision system called the eXternal Vision System (XVS) is used. The system uses a variety of high-resolution, front-facing cameras. (Read also; NASA Soon to Test Supersonic X-59 Aircraft )
NASA is setting a deadline for the X-59’s first flight sometime next year. However, Lockheed Martin has not given a definite answer when the plane will first take to the air. This is because the initial flight testing, for the basic airworthiness of the aircraft, is estimated to take nine months and last until 2023.
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