The fastest hypersonic aircraft in the world. Russian hypersonic aircraft. The fate of the “supersonic”. Does Russia need a new supersonic passenger plane? Which plane flies faster than the speed of sound?

One of the most important tasks of all specialists in aviation transport production is the creation of supersonic passenger aircraft. Analysis of existing supersonic passenger aircraft made it possible to develop fundamentally new ones that are economically profitable and meet environmental standards. Let's consider a number of inventions aimed at creating universal supersonic passenger aircraft that could be used at flight altitudes outside modern air corridors at supersonic speeds.

The supersonic aircraft, developed by Korabef Johann and Prampolini Marco, has improved performance of the Concorde and Tupolev TU-144 aircraft. In particular, reducing the noise level that accompanies breaking the sound barrier.

This invention contains a fuselage (Figure 1), which is formed by a front section or nose CN, a middle section or passenger cabin P and a rear section. The fuselage of the aircraft has a constant cross-section, which, starting from the passenger cabin section, gradually expands and narrows towards the rear of the aircraft.

Figure 1. Longitudinal section of a high-speed aircraft

Inside the rear section of the fuselage there are one or more tanks with liquid oxygen R01 and a tank with hydrogen in a liquid or sludge state Rv, designed to power the rocket engine.

The aircraft has a delta gothic wing as shown in (Fig. 2), the root of which originates at the level where the forward fuselage extension begins. The delta wing is equipped with two flaps on each side of the fuselage.

Figure 2. Perspective view of a high-speed aircraft

A small wing a1,a2 is secured to each outer end of the trailing edge of the delta wing using a cylindrical piece. This invention is illustrated in (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. Small wing in perspective

The movable small wing consists of two trapezoidal elements, which are located on both sides of the cylindrical part. The cylindrical part, whose axis is parallel to the axis of the fuselage, can be rotated around its axis to install a small wing depending on the speed of the aircraft. The position of the small wings is horizontal at speeds below 1Mach and vertical at speeds above 1Mach. Changing the positions of the small wing is necessary to solve the problem of combining the center of gravity and the center of thrust application at any aircraft speed.

The aircraft is equipped with an engine system (Figure 1). This system contains two turbojet engines TB1(TB2), two ramjet engines ST1(ST2) and a rocket engine Mf.

Two turbojet engines TB1(TB2) are located in the transition area between the passenger cabin P and the rear fuselage section. Turbojet engines are designed for the aircraft taxiing and takeoff phases. Shortly before entering the transonic flight region, the turbojet engines are turned off and retracted inside the fuselage. Once the landing phase of the aircraft begins and the aircraft speed drops below Mach 1, the turbojet engines are released and ignited. This solution makes it possible to significantly reduce the size and weight of turbojet engines compared to standard use turbojet engines.

At the take-off stage, the aircraft moves not only due to the TB1(TB2) turbojet engines, but also due to the rocket engine. The rocket engine can be (Fig. 4) either a single engine with a smoothly varying thrust, or a combination of the main engine Mp with several auxiliary engines Ma1, Ma2 with separate thrust.

Figure 4. Rear view of the rocket engine

The rocket engine, located at the rear of the fuselage, can be opened and closed in the fuselage using the rear hatch P of the aircraft, as shown in (Fig. 5).

Figure 5. Rear view of a high-speed aircraft

During takeoff, the hatch is completely open, but once the aircraft is at high altitude, the rocket engine is turned off and the hatch is closed, which gives a streamlined shape to the fuselage. The flight phase at cruising speed begins.

The flight phase at cruising speed occurs with the inclusion of ramjet engines ST1 (ST2) and the shutdown of the Mf rocket engine. Two ramjet engines are placed symmetrically relative to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft and are designed to create cruising speed. Ramjet engines have a fixed geometry, which reduces their weight and simplifies their design. The thrust of ramjet engines is modulated during flight by changing the hydrogen flow rate.

The aircraft according to this invention can carry about twenty passengers. The aircraft's flight altitude ranges from 30,000m to 35,000m and can reach speeds from 4Mach to 4.5Mach.

Of particular interest is a supersonic passenger aircraft, which is proposed to be carried out using a canard aerodynamic configuration. In accordance with the claimed technical solution, the aircraft contains a fuselage, as shown in (Fig. 6), which is connected to the wing 1 using the influx 2. The passenger compartment is located in the central part of the fuselage. In cross section, the nose and central parts of the fuselage are round in shape. There is a recess in the rear fuselage.

Figure 6. General view of the aircraft

The aircraft is equipped with engines located in the engine nacelle 3, which are combined into a “package” with two air intakes 4. This “package” is installed on top behind the recess in the rear fuselage, which reduces the drag of the vessel and improves balancing in case of failure of one engine.

The deepening of the rear fuselage is aimed at reducing the unevenness of the supersonic flow supplied to the air intakes. This technical solution is limited to the first platform 6 and a pair of second platforms 7, as shown in (Fig. 7).

Figure 7. Top view of the rear fuselage

The first platform 6, made flat, forms an oblique cut of the fuselage. The platform can be oriented towards the direction of air supply into the air intake of the vessel at an acute angle, the value of which lies in the range from 2 to 10 degrees. The first platform is connected to the fuselage skin at an angle without a smooth transition, which ensures the presence of a sharp edge 9 at the junction of the platform with the skin, which forms a vortex flow along the sharp edges of the joint. The vortex supersonic flow ensures that the growing boundary layer, formed by moving the flow across the platforms, is removed from the peripheral areas of the platforms and flows off to the sides of the fuselage.

The second platforms 7, made flat, are located between the air intakes 4 and the first platform 6. They are located to each other at an angle, which it is advisable to choose in excess of 150 degrees. To prevent an increase in aerodynamic drag, the angle between the direction of air supply into the air intake and the edge of the connection of the second platforms 10 should not exceed 20 degrees.

The presence of second sites makes it possible to remove the boundary layer from areas close to the plane of symmetry of the aircraft due to the formation of an intense vortex. An intense vortex flow is formed in the area where the fin is placed between the second platforms. Removing the boundary layer from areas close to the plane of symmetry of the aircraft allows the thickness of the boundary layer to be reduced before entering the air intakes.

It is worth noting that the boundary layer is removed immediately before the cut of the air intake, due to the extension of the second platforms beyond this cut. This solution is illustrated in (Figure 8).

Figure 8. View of one of the second flat platforms at the point where it extends beyond the cut of the air intake

The difference between Valery Nikolaevich Sirotin’s patent and the others is that he proposes a passenger supersonic aircraft with a forward-swept wing, having emergency rescue modules (shown in Fig. 9).

The aircraft, according to the patent, contains a fuselage 1, in the bow of which there is a cockpit 11. In the middle part there are rescue modules 2, which form the outer contour of the fuselage due to thermally insulated walls. Also, the supersonic aircraft contains left and right wings 3, which are designed to rotate relative to the fuselage axis. The power plant of the invention includes four lift-propulsion turbojet engines 9.

Figure 9. Top view of the aircraft before turning the right and left wings towards the fuselage holding grips

It is worth noting that the aircraft has vertical 6 and horizontal 7 stabilizers. The front horizontal tail 8, with the help of special engines, is installed with the ability to rotate relative to the horizontal axis of the fuselage.

Both the right and left wing 3 are attached with the possibility of rotation relative to the horizontal axis of the fuselage. To ensure that the positions of the right and left wings are fixed at supersonic speed, there are holding grips in the lower part of the fuselage. Special motors are provided to rotate the wings. The amount of rotation of the wings is 53 degrees relative to the horizontal axis of the fuselage. This value ensures a shift in the zone where flow separation begins from the ends of the wings to the root.

(Fig. 10) shows how, during takeoff, the engines of mechanisms 15 rotate the right and left wings at an angle of 53 degrees in the direction from the fuselage, and rotate the front horizontal tail at an angle of 85 degrees. This forward-swept aerodynamic design allows the aircraft to take off.

Figure 10. Top view of the diagram of the wing rotation mechanism

When reaching high subsonic speeds, the mechanism engines rotate the wings inward towards the fuselage axis, where they are fixed by holding grips. The front horizontal tail also rotates. Due to these actions, the aircraft changes its aerodynamic configuration (Fig. 11), which allows it to develop supersonic speed.

Figure 11. Top view of the aircraft after turning the right and left wings towards the fuselage holding grips

In case of an emergency, the ship is equipped with emergency rescue modules (Fig. 12). Each module is equipped with ejection units 21, which are activated at the command of the pilots, a parachute 22, a landing device 23, and an autonomous power supply system.

Figure 12. Descent of the habitable module

The authors of patent No. 2391254 offer us a supersonic vessel, which is made according to the aerodynamic design of “tailless with GO”. According to the patent, as shown in (Fig. 13), the aircraft contains a fuselage 1, the front part of which includes the cockpit and passenger compartment 8. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that the nose of the fuselage is flattened 7. In the vertical plane it is made with a radius of 0, 1...5 mm, and in horizontal 300...1500 mm.

Figure 13. General view of the aircraft

The minimum sonic boom is achieved by the fact that the cross-sectional shape, close to circular, has an increasing radius of the front part of the fuselage.

According to this patent, to ensure high efficiency of longitudinal control and create a favorable pitching moment at supersonic speeds, the lower rear part of the fuselage smoothly transforms into a surface flat in the transverse direction. The lower tail section of the fuselage ends with the elevator.

To ensure minimal flow disturbances and wave resistance, the authors propose to make a large sweep angle of the order of 78...84 on the root section of the swept wing at the junction of the wing and fuselage 14. And the profile of the leading edge 9 should be made with a radius of curvature of 5...40 mm, to increase the volume of the wing and the value of the maximum permissible angle of attack.

Particular attention should be paid to the air intakes of engines 4, which are located on the sides of the fuselage above the upper surface of the wing root, which reduces their adverse effect on the magnitude of the sonic boom. Since the flow is slowed down in front of the air intakes, the boundary layer is removed through perforated sections 16 (shown in (Fig. 14)), which are made on the planes in front of the air intakes and in them themselves.

Figure 14. Scheme of wing (fuselage) compression in front of the air intakes and boundary layer bypass scheme

This boundary layer is drained onto the upper surface of the fuselage and wing, through the drain air duct 17. But to supply the required amount of air in various modes, supersonic air intakes contain a mechanism for controlled air bypass 18 from the boundary layer drain channel into the air duct channel 19 from the air intakes to the engine.

Implemented on given time supersonic aircraft were withdrawn from use for one reason or another. The inventions presented in this article are aimed at creating supersonic aircraft that have high flight characteristics and environmental performance.

The main technical tasks for creating such devices are:

Reducing the aerodynamic drag of the vessel;

Reducing the noise level that accompanies breaking the sound barrier;

Reduced emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere, which is achieved by reduced fuel consumption by improving the characteristics of air intakes.

Most patented supersonic aircraft have a flight altitude that is higher than that of a conventional airliner. This advantage allows the aircraft to be used in almost all-weather conditions, since the flight is carried out at altitudes where there are no meteorological phenomena that affect normal piloting.

Bibliography:

1. Babulin A.A., Vlasov S.A., Subbotin V.V., Titov V.N., Tyurin S.V. Pat. No. 2517629 (RF). IPC B 64 D 33/02, B 64 D 27/20, B 64 C 30/00. Aircraft.
2. Bakhtin E.Yu., Zhitenev V.K., Kazhan A.V., Kazhan V.G., Mironov A.K., Polyakov A.V., Remeev N.Kh. Pat. No. 2391254 (RF). IPC B 64 D 33/02, B 64 D 27/16, B 64 C 3/10, B 64 C 1/38, B 64 C30. Supersonic aircraft (options).
3. Korabef Johann, Prampolini Marco, Pat. No. 2547962 (RF). IPC B 64 C 30/00, B 64 D 27/020, B 64 C 5/10, B 64 C 5/08. High-speed aircraft and associated mode of air travel
4. Sirotin V.N. Pat. No. 2349506 (RF). IPC B 64 C 3/40, B 64 C30. Passenger supersonic aircraft with forward-swept wings and emergency rescue modules.

Supersonic aircraft are aircraft that are capable of flying at speeds exceeding the speed of sound (Mach number M = 1.2-5).

Story

The advent of jet fighters in the 1940s challenged designers to further increase their speed. The increased speed improved the performance of both bombers and fighters.

The pioneer in the supersonic era was American test pilot Chuck Yeager. 10/14/1947, flying an experimental Bell X-1 aircraft with a rocket power plant XLR-11, in controlled flight it exceeded the speed of sound.

Development

Rapid development supersonic aviation started in the 60-70s. XX century. Then the problems of aerodynamic efficiency, controllability and stability of aircraft were resolved. The high flight speed also made it possible to increase the service ceiling by more than 20,000 m, which was a comfortable altitude for bombers and reconnaissance aircraft.

Before the advent of anti-aircraft missile launchers and systems that could hit targets at high altitudes, the main principle of bombing operations was to keep bomber aircraft at maximum altitude and speed. Then supersonic aircraft for various purposes were built and put into mass production - reconnaissance bombers, interceptors, fighters, interceptor bombers. The Convair F-102 Delta Dagger was the first supersonic reconnaissance aircraft, and the Convair B-58 Hustler was the first supersonic long-range bomber.

Currently, new aircraft are being designed, developed and produced, some of which are produced using a special technology that reduces their radar and visual signature - “Stealth”.

Passenger supersonic aircraft

In the history of aviation, only 2 passenger supersonic aircraft were created that operated regular flights. The first flight of the Soviet Tu-144 aircraft took place on December 31, 1968, its operation period was 1975-1978. The Anglo-French Concorde aircraft made its first flight on March 2, 1969 and was operated on transatlantic direction in 1976-2003

The use of such aircraft made it possible not only to reduce the time of flight over long distances, but also to use unoccupied air lines at high altitudes (about 18 km) at a time when the altitudes of 9-12 km, which the airliners used, were heavily loaded. Also, supersonic aircraft operated off-air routes (on direct routes).

Despite the failure of several transonic and supersonic aircraft projects (SSBJ, Tu-444, Tu-344, Tu-244, Lockheed L-2000, Boeing Sonic Cruiser, Boeing 2707) and the decommissioning of two completed projects, the development of modern hypersonic airliner projects continues (for example SpaceLiner, ZEHST) and landing (military transport) rapid reaction aircraft. The supersonic business jet Aerion AS2 has been launched into production.

Theoretical issues

Compared to subsonic flight, flight at supersonic speed is carried out according to a different law, because when the aircraft reaches the speed of sound, changes occur in the flow pattern, as a result, the kinetic heating of the device increases, aerodynamic drag increases, and a change in the aerodynamic focus is observed. All this adds up to a deterioration in the controllability and stability of the aircraft. A hitherto unknown phenomenon of wave resistance also appeared.

Therefore, effective flight when reaching the speed of sound requires not only an increase in engine power, but also the introduction of new design solutions.

Therefore, such aircraft received a change in their appearance - sharp corners and characteristic straight lines appeared compared to the “smooth” shape of subsonic aircraft.

To date, the task of creating a truly effective supersonic aircraft has not been solved. The creators are required to find a compromise between maintaining normal takeoff and landing characteristics and the requirement to increase speed.

Therefore, the conquest of new heights and speeds by modern aviation is associated not only with the introduction of new propulsion systems and layout schemes, but also with changes in flight geometry. These changes should improve the aircraft's performance at high speeds without compromising its performance at low speeds, and vice versa. Designers have recently abandoned reducing the area of ​​the wings and the thickness of their profiles, increasing the sweep angle, returning to wings of large relative thickness and low sweep, if they have managed to achieve the requirements of the practical ceiling and speed.

It is important that a supersonic aircraft has good flight performance at low speeds and is resistant to drag at high speeds, especially at surface altitudes.

Aircraft classification:

Supersonic speed is the speed at which an object moves faster than sound. The flight speed of a supersonic aircraft is measured in Mach - the speed of the aircraft at a certain point in space relative to the speed of sound at the same point. Nowadays it is quite difficult to surprise with such speeds of movement, but just some 80 years ago this was only a dream.

Where it all started

In the forties of the twentieth century, during the Second World War, German designers actively worked on resolving this issue, hoping to use such aircraft to turn the tide of the war. As we know, they didn’t succeed, the war ended. However, in 1945, closer to its completion, the German pilot L. Hoffmann, testing the world's first jet fighter Me-262, at an altitude of 7200 m, was able to reach a speed of about 980 km/h.

The first person to realize the dream of all pilots about breaking the supersonic barrier was American test pilot Chuck Yeager. In 1947, this pilot was the first in history to overcome the speed of sound in a manned vehicle. He flew the prototype rocket-powered Bell X-1 aircraft. By the way, German scientists and their developments captured during the war greatly contributed to the appearance of this device, as well as, in fact, to the entire further development of flight technologies.

The speed of sound was reached in the Soviet Union on December 26, 1948. It was an experimental aircraft LA-176, at a flight altitude of 9060 m, piloted by I.E. Fedorov and O.V. Sokolovsky. About a month later, on this aircraft, but with a more advanced engine, the speed of sound was not only reached, but also exceeded by 7000 m. The LA-176 project was very promising, but due to the tragic death of O.V. Sokolovsky, who controlled this apparatus, the developments were closed.

IN further development This industry has slowed down somewhat, as a significant number of physical difficulties have arisen associated with controlling an aircraft at supersonic speeds. At high speeds, such a property of air as compressibility begins to manifest itself, and aerodynamic streamlining becomes completely different. Appears characteristic impedance, and such an unpleasant phenomenon for any pilot as flutter - the plane begins to heat up very much.

Faced with these problems, designers began to look for a radical solution that could overcome the difficulties. This decision turned out to be a complete revision of the design of aircraft intended for supersonic flights. The streamlined shapes of airliners that we now see are the result of many years of scientific research.

Further development

At that time, when the Second World War had just ended and the Korean and Vietnamese wars began, the development of the industry could only occur through military technologies. That is why the first production aircraft capable of flying faster than the speed of sound were the Soviet Mig-19 (NATO Farmer) and the American F-100 Super Saber. The speed record was held by an American aircraft - 1215 km/h (set on October 29, 1953), but already at the end of 1954 the Mig-19 was able to accelerate to 1450 km/h.

Interesting fact. Although the USSR and the United States of America did not conduct official military operations, real repeated combat clashes during the Korean and Vietnam Wars showed the undeniable advantage of Soviet technology. For example, our Mig-19s were much lighter, had engines with better dynamic characteristics and, as a result, a faster rate of climb. The radius of possible combat use of the aircraft was 200 km greater than that of the Mig-19. That is why the Americans really wanted to get their hands on an intact sample and even announced a reward for completing such a task. And it was realized.

After the end of the Korean War, 1 Mig-19 aircraft was hijacked from an air base by Korean Air Force officer No Geum Seok. For which the Americans paid him the required $100,000 as a reward for delivering an undamaged aircraft.

Interesting fact. The first female pilot to reach the speed of sound is American Jacqueline Cochran. She reached speeds of 1,270 km/h while piloting an F-86 Saber aircraft.

Development of civil aviation

In the 60s of the last century, after the appearance of technical developments tested during the wars, aviation began to develop rapidly. Solutions were found for the existing problems of supersonic speeds, and then the creation of the first supersonic passenger aircraft began.

The first ever flight of a civilian airliner faster than the speed of sound occurred on August 21, 1961, on a Douglas DC-8. There were no passengers on the aircraft other than the pilots at the time of the flight, and ballast was placed to accommodate the full load of the aircraft under these experimental conditions. A speed of 1262 km/h was reached while descending from an altitude of 15877 m to 12300 m.

Interesting fact. On February 19, 1985, a China Airlines Boeing 747 SP-09 entered an uncontrollable dive while flying from Taiwan's Taipei to Los Angeles. The reason for this was engine malfunctions and subsequent unqualified actions of personnel. During the dive from an altitude of 12,500 m to 2,900 m, where the crew was able to stabilize the aircraft, the speed of sound was exceeded. At the same time, the airliner, not designed for such overloads, received serious damage to the tail section. However, with all this, only 2 people on board were seriously injured. The plane landed in San Francisco, was repaired and subsequently carried out passenger flights again.

However, all two types of truly real supersonic passenger aircraft (SPS), capable of regular flights at speeds above the speed of sound, were designed and built:

• Soviet airliner Tu-144;
• Anglo-French aircraft Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde.

Only these two aircraft were able to maintain supersonic cruising speed. At that time, they were superior to even most combat aircraft; the design of these airliners was unique for their time. There were only a few types of aircraft capable of supercruise; today, most modern military vehicles are equipped with such capabilities.

Aviation of the USSR

The Soviet Tu-144 was built somewhat earlier than its European counterpart, so it can be considered the world's first supersonic passenger airliner. The appearance of these aircraft, both Tu-144 and Concorde, will not leave any person indifferent even now. It is unlikely that there have been more beautiful aircraft in the history of aircraft manufacturing.

The Tu-144 has attractive characteristics, with the exception of the range of practical use: higher cruising speed and lower landing speed, higher flight ceiling, but the history of our airliner is much more tragic.

Important! The Tu-144 is not only the first flying, but also the first crashed supersonic passenger airliner. The crash at the Le Bourget air show on June 3, 1973, in which 14 people died, was the first step towards the end of Tu-144 flights. Unambiguous causes have never been established, and the final version of the disaster raises many questions.

The second crash near Yegoryevsk in the Moscow region on May 23, 1978, where a fire occurred during the flight and 2 crew members died during landing, became the final point in the decision to stop operating these aircraft. Despite the fact that after analysis it was established that the fire occurred as a result of a defect in the fuel system of the new engine being tested, and the aircraft itself showed excellent controllability and reliability of the design, when the one on fire was able to land, the aircraft were removed from flights and taken out of commercial operation .

How it turned out abroad

The European Concorde, in turn, flew for much longer, from 1976 to 2003. However, due to unprofitability (the aircraft could not be brought to the minimum payback), the operation was also eventually curtailed. This was largely due to the plane crash in Paris on July 25, 2000: during takeoff from Charles De Gaulle airport, the engine caught fire and the plane crashed to the ground (113 people died, including 4 on the ground), as well as the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 Despite the fact that this was the only crash of the aircraft in 37 years of operation, and the terrorist attacks were not directly related to Concorde, the general decrease in passenger flow reduced the already lacking profitability of flights and led to the fact that this aircraft made its last flight on route Heathrow - Filton 26 November 2003

Interesting fact. A ticket for a Concorde flight in the 70s cost at least $1,500 one way; towards the end of the nineties, the price rose to $4,000. Ticket for a seat last flight This airliner already cost $10,000.

Supersonic aviation at the moment

To date, solutions similar to the Tu-144 and Concorde are not expected. But, if you are the kind of person who doesn’t care about the cost of tickets, there are a number of developments in the field of business flights and small-capacity aircraft.

The most promising development is the XB-1 Baby Boom aircraft from the American company Boom technology from Colorado. It is a small aircraft, about 20 m long and with a wingspan of 5.2 m. It is equipped with 3 engines developed in the fifties for cruise missiles.

The capacity is planned to be about 45 people, with a flight range of 1800 km at a speed of up to Mach 2. On this moment This is still a development, but the first flight of the prototype is planned for 2018, and the aircraft itself must be certified by 2023. The creators plan to use the development both as a business jet for private transportation and on regular low-capacity flights. The planned cost for a flight on this car will be about $5,000, which is quite a lot, but comparable to the cost of a business class flight.

However, if you look at the entire civil aviation industry as a whole, then with today’s level of technology development, everything does not look very promising. Large companies more concerned with the benefits and profitability of projects than with new developments in the field of supersonic flight. The reason is that throughout the history of aviation there have not been sufficiently successful implementations of tasks of this kind; no matter how many attempts were made to achieve the goals, they all failed to one degree or another.

In general, those designers who are involved in current projects are rather enthusiasts who are optimistic about the future, who, of course, expect to make a profit, but are quite realistic about the results, and most of the projects still exist only on paper, and there are enough analysts are skeptical about the possibility of their implementation.

One of the few truly large projects is the Concorde-2 supersonic aircraft patented last year by Airbus. Structurally, it will be an aircraft with three types of engines:

• Turbofan jet engines. Will be installed at the front of the aircraft;
• Hypersonic air-breathing engines. They will be mounted under the wings of the airliner;
• Rocket engines. Installed in the rear fuselage.

This design feature involves the operation of different engines at certain stages of flight (takeoff, landing, movement at cruising speed).

Taking into account one of the main problems of civil air travel - noise (air traffic management standards in most countries set a limit on the noise level, if the airport is located close to residential areas, this imposes restrictions on the possibility of night flights), Airbus has developed a special technology for the Concorde-2 project allowing vertical takeoff. This will practically avoid shock waves from hitting the surface of the earth, which in turn will ensure no discomfort for people below. Also, thanks to a similar design and technology, the flight of the airliner will take place at an altitude of about 30-35,000 m (at the moment, civil aviation flies at a maximum of 12,000 m), which will help reduce noise not only during take-off, but throughout the entire flight, since At such a height, shock waves will not be able to reach the surface.

The future of supersonic flight

Not everything is as sad as it might seem at first glance. In addition to civil aviation, there is and will always exist the military industry. The combat needs of the state have driven the development of aviation as before and will continue to do so. The armies of all states need more and more advanced aircraft. From year to year this need only increases, which entails the creation of new design and technological solutions.

Sooner or later, development will reach a level where the use of military technologies may become profitable for peaceful purposes.

Video

Think about creating a supersonic passenger plane. In his opinion, the airliner could be built on the basis of the Tu-160 military strategic bomber.

At the beginning of 2018, Putin already proposed returning to the construction of similar aircraft in Russia. However, then experts were skeptical about the president’s idea, considering the project too expensive. Later, the Tupolev company said that the new aircraft could make its first flight no earlier than 2027. The company estimated the cost of all work on creating a production aircraft at 105 billion rubles.

Info24 talked to aviation experts and found out whether Russia still needs a new supersonic passenger aircraft.

Disappointing experience

In the history of world aircraft manufacturing there have been two supersonic passenger liners: Franco-British Concorde and Soviet Tu-144. These aircraft could reach speeds of more than 2.4 thousand km/h, while maximum speed Airbus A320 - 840 km/h. At the same time, the cost of a flight, for example, from Europe to the USA reached 7 thousand dollars. The flights were popular with businessmen.

The Tu-144 was developed at the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. It began to be used in passenger transportation in 1977, but after several accidents, the design bureau management decided to freeze the project.

Supersonic passenger aircraft TU-144. Photo: RIA Novosti, wikimedia.org

Around the same time French company Aérospatiale and the British BAC developed a joint project called Concorde. A total of 20 supersonic aircraft were produced, which were shared between British Airways and Air France. Over 27 years of regular and charter flights, more than 3 million passengers have used supersonic flights.

On July 5, 2000, one of the Concorde planes crashed during takeoff at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Then 113 people died. After this, flights of supersonic aircraft were suspended for a year and a half. They were completely stopped in 2003 due to high prices for fuel.

Since then, passenger supersonic aircraft have no longer been used in the world.

“Not economics, but prestige”

Managing Director of the Air Transport Review magazine Maxim Pyadushkin told Info24 that the production of supersonic airliners faces not only technical, but also other obstacles.

“The same Concorde was operated at supersonic speed only over Atlantic Ocean, because, for example, in the USA, due to the shock wave, it is prohibited to fly over land at supersonic speeds. These aircraft had very limited use and the problem is still not solved. The latest Concordes were delivered practically for nothing, for a symbolic price; the conversation there was not about economics, but about prestige. But they stopped using them soon after the accident in Paris,” said Pyadushkin.

Why does the state need this?

Editor-in-Chief of the Air Transport Review magazine Alexey Sinitsky believes that by developing its own supersonic aircraft, Russia can stimulate the development of other industries.

“In the production of such airliners there is a large number of issues that are unresolved or unresolved. Of course, work on these issues is important, necessary and interesting for creating a new generation of highly economical engines, so we need to work. But, in my opinion, this is not a mainline or strategic direction of civil aviation. There are much more mundane issues that, although they sound less romantic, still also require solutions. But it’s a completely different matter if we consider civil aviation as an opportunity to stimulate economic development.

The development of aircraft manufacturing entails improvements in other industries. Therefore, this is strategically important for Russia, especially if we do not focus on import substitution, but, for example, find our own areas of specialization and choose areas where we could offer competitive products on a global scale.

This doesn’t necessarily apply to the whole aircraft, but, for example, to some component that we would do better than anyone else in the world,” Sinitsky said in a conversation with Info24.

Although the Concorde planes were sold to airlines at a ridiculous price, the expert does not believe that money was lost: there was serious research, the industry gained knowledge and technology. In addition, this was one of the first experiences of international cooperation, which subsequently led to a unified system of European aircraft manufacturing.

Unprofitable and inconvenient

At the same time, Sinitsky does not deny that it is extremely difficult to make flights on supersonic airliners pay off.

“If the country’s leadership needs to increase transport accessibility, then that's one thing. But at the same time, world experience shows that efficiency trumps speed. The same Concorde program proved that in many ways, economical flights turned out to be much more in demand, while supersonic flight, due to the generation of a compaction wave under the aircraft, is uneconomical by definition. There are many questions about the economics of supersonic transportation, including how convenient it will be for passengers. For example, flying from Vladivostok to Moscow will be inconvenient due to time zone changes - you will either have to fly out at an inconvenient time, or arrive at an inconvenient time. In addition, if you have some comfort in a regular plane, then in a supersonic plane it will be more cramped,” the expert said.

Avia.ru portal expert Vladimir Karnozov, however, is confident that it is possible to make flights profitable. True, for this it is “critically important” for them to fly not only through the Atlantic, but also through Pacific Ocean- for example, from Japan, China and Australia to the USA and Canada.

“It is believed that Concorde was unprofitable, but this is not entirely true. The project turned out to be unprofitable due to the powerful opposition of the United States [on environmental standards], which turned out to be effective, among other things, because income from the commercial operation of Concordes was formed mainly from sales of tickets for flights to the airports of New York and other large American cities . Concorde flew with intermediate stops from France to Latin America and from England to the Middle East and beyond Southeast Asia, but these routes brought in significantly less income. As a result of US opposition, Western European industry produced fewer aircraft than planned, and the program was terminated ahead of schedule,” the aviation expert said.

For those who talk about free supplies of Concorde to airlines and build on this argument about the insolvency of the airliners, Karnozov suggests comparing the cost of the first aircraft and the prices for subsonic airliners of that era. According to him, this is a huge amount of money that the airlines planned to return through many years of operation on flights from Europe to the USA, where the machine operated profitably.

“If you open foreign aviation publications, then for the last 7-10 years this topic (the creation of supersonic passenger aircraft - approx. Info24) is constantly discussed, mainly in relation to business aircraft. But the problems in developing such aircraft are not related to technology. Simply under the influence of the United States, the aviation authorities of the countries Western world put forward inflated demands on the environmental parameters of “supersonics” (supersonic aircraft, from the English supersonic - supersonic - approx. Info24), in particular – the noise level in the area and the magnitude of the sonic boom. There is no opportunity to influence the States, and at their suggestion, certification requirements are being put forward for the next generation of “supersonics”. If a solution is not found at the political level, then nothing will come of the idea of ​​​​creating a supersonic passenger plane. And if the requirements are relaxed, then it will be a very interesting project,” said Karnozov.

He added that the costs of creating such an aircraft greatly depend on the requirements for which it will be created. According to the expert, if the requirements are “reasonable,” then the price of the project will be several billion dollars, but if the creation of a supersonic airliner is “customized” to the requirements of the United States, then “a budget of tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars will be insufficient.”

Who can fly such planes?

Flights on supersonic airliners are extremely expensive - for example, a trip from London to New York can cost 7 thousand dollars. All experts agree that if such flights are in demand, it will only be among businessmen.

“If we are talking about the business transportation segment, then there may be a demand for speed here. But the fuel consumption in such aircraft will be very high, which is why even for wealthy people the cost may be quite high,” said Info24 Leading researcher at the Institute of Transport and Transport Policy at the National Research University Higher School of Economics Fedor Borisov.

Vladimir Karnozov also agrees with him. According to the expert, supersonic aircraft are needed for “the upper segment, those who fly business class and first class today.”

Attempts to create a new “supersonic”

Maxim Pyadushkin said that there are people and companies that are trying to enter the supersonic aircraft market, but they are focusing on business aviation, and their aircraft will be bought by a very limited circle of people.

“Such projects began as startups; enthusiasts gathered and made drawings. But no startup can create an airplane alone. For example, Aerion, which was supported by Boeing and other major manufacturers. This project has probably advanced the furthest. This gives hope that since large manufacturers believe in this, the aircraft will be able to be brought to testing, prototype and, in fact, flight,” said the aviation expert.

Throughout history, man has been drawn to overcome all possible barriers. One of them has long been the speed of sound. At the moment, there are many supersonic aircraft, some of which are actively used by various states, while others, for one reason or another, no longer take to the skies.

In the course of development, which was carried out over many decades, not only supersonic fighters for military purposes were designed, but also civilian airliners, some of which carried passengers.

The development of aircraft capable of exceeding it began in the middle of the last century. This happened during the Second World War, when German scientists were hard at work trying to develop a supersonic aircraft that could turn the tide of the war.

However, the war ended, and many German scientists who worked on these developments were captured by the Americans. Largely thanks to them, the USA developed an aircraft with rocket engines - the Bell X-1, on which in 1947 Chuck Yeager was the first in the world to exceed the speed of sound.

A year later, the Soviet Union came to a similar result by developing the LA-176, which first equaled the speed of sound at an altitude of 9,000 meters, and a month later, having received improved engines, exceeded it at an altitude of 7,000 meters.

Unfortunately, the project was closed due to the tragic death of O.V. Sokolovsky, one of the pilots of this plane. Further progress in the design of supersonic aircraft slowed down due to some physical obstacles: air liquefaction at too high a speed, changes in aerodynamics and streamlining. A serious obstacle was the overheating of aircraft breaking the sound barrier. This phenomenon is called "flutter".

Over the next few years, designers worked on streamlining, aerodynamics, body materials and other improvements.

Military aviation in the 1950s

At the beginning of this decade, the F-100 Super Saber and MiG-19 were developed by the USA and USSR, competing in all spheres. At first, the American F-100 overtook the Soviet Mig, reaching a speed of 1,215 kilometers per hour in 1953, but a year later the Soviet MiG was able to get ahead of it, accelerating to 1,450 kilometers per hour.

Despite the absence of open military clashes between the USA and the USSR, in the local conflicts of the Vietnamese and Korean wars it was established that the Soviet MiG was in many ways superior to its American competitor.

The MiG-19 was lighter, took to the air faster, surpassed its competitor in dynamic characteristics, and its combat range was 200 kilometers longer than the F-100.

Such circumstances led to increased interest in Soviet developments on the part of the Americans, and after the end of the Korean War, officer No Geum Seok stole a MiG-19 from a Soviet airbase, providing it to the United States, for which he received a reward of $100,000.

Civil supersonic aviation

The technical developments obtained during the wars gave impetus to the rapid development of aviation in the 60s. The main problems caused by breaking the sound barrier were solved, and designers were able to begin designing the first supersonic civil aircraft.

The first supersonic airliner designed to carry passengers flew in 1961. This aircraft was a Douglas DC-8, piloted without passengers, with ballast placed on board to simulate their weight for testing in conditions as close to real as possible. At the time of descent from a height of 15877, the speed was 1262 km/h.

Also, the speed of sound was unplannedly exceeded by a Boeing 747 when the plane, en route from Taipei to Los Angeles, went into an uncontrolled dive as a result of malfunction and incompetence of the crew. Diving from an altitude of 125,000 meters to 2,900 meters, the plane exceeded the speed of sound, sustaining damage to the tail and causing serious injury to two passengers. The incident occurred in 1985.

In total, two aircraft were built that were capable of truly exceeding the speed of sound in regular flights. They were the Soviet Tu-144 and the Anglo-French Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde. Apart from these aircraft, no other passenger aircraft could maintain supersonic cruising speed.

Tu-144 and Concorde

The Tu-144 is rightfully considered the first supersonic passenger aircraft in history, because it was built before the Concorde. These liners were distinguished not only by excellent specifications but also elegant appearance– many consider them the most beautiful aircraft in the history of aviation.

Unfortunately, the Tu-144 became not only the first supersonic passenger aircraft to take to the skies, but also the first airliner of this type to crash. In 1973, 14 people died during a crash at Le Bourget, which served as the first impetus for the cessation of flights on this machine.

The second Tu-144 crash occurred in the Moscow region in 1978 - a fire broke out on the plane, causing the landing to be fatal for two crew members.

During the inspection, it was determined that the cause of the fire was a defect in the fuel system of the new engine, which was being tested at that time, but otherwise the aircraft showed excellent performance, as it was able to land when it caught fire. Despite this, commercial rail service on it was discontinued.

Concorde served European aviation much longer - flights on it lasted from 1976 to 2003. However, in 2000, this liner also crashed. While taking off from Charles De Gaulle, the plane caught fire and crashed to the ground, killing 113 people.

In the entire history of flights, Concorde never began to pay off, and after the disaster, the flow of passengers decreased so much that the project became even more unprofitable, and three years later flights on this supersonic aircraft ceased.

Technical characteristics of Tu-144

Many people wonder what the speed was supersonic aircraft? Let's look at the technical characteristics of the aircraft, which has long been the pride of domestic aviation:

• Crew – 4 people;
• Capacity – 150 people;
• The ratio of length and height is 67/12.5 meters;
• Maximum weight – 180 tons;
• Thrust with afterburner – 17500 kg/s;
• Cruising speed -2200 km/h;
• Maximum flight altitude – 18,000 meters;
• Flight range – 6500 kilometers.