Military technology inevitably makes its way to the civilian sphere. Take, for example, the internet. What started as a means for secure communication for the military today allows you to take pictures of yourself and share it with the world. Then there are jet engines. They started out as a means to make fighter jets go faster in the Second World War. Now they allow passenger jets to travel farther and faster.
Soon though, you’ll be able to travel much faster and cover larger distances, thanks to the X-51 Waverider hypersonic test plane. Built by Boeing, the prototype of the hypersonic (five times faster than the speed of sound) plane had managed to fly at Mach 5 during tests recently. While it was more a proof of concept, now the United States Air Force wants a plane that can actually transport equipment. You know what that means for civilian aviation? Faster flights and less jet lag.
The X-51 itself is a marvel of technology. It uses a ram jet engine, which has no moving parts but depends on fast moving air and infusion of fuel to generate the thrust required. It is launched on a pylon of a B-52 Stratofortress bomber, like a missile. After which the ramjet takes over.
Commercial application is still a few decades away but there’s hope to do away with long travel time and jetlag. Till then, it’s long queues at the airport!