F-5E Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration aircraft

The

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration, also known as the Shaped Sonic Boom Experiment, was a two-year program that used a

Northrop F-5 The Northrop F-5 is a family of supersonic light fighter aircraft initially designed as a privately funded project in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation. There are two main models: the original F-5A and F-5B Freedom Fighter variants, and th ...

E with a modified

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

to demonstrate that the aircraft's shock wave, and accompanying

sonic boom A sonic boom is a sound associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding similar to an explosion or a thunderclap to ...

, can be shaped, and thereby reduced. The program was a joint effort between NASA's

Langley Research Center The Langley Research Center (LaRC or NASA Langley), located in Hampton, Virginia, near the Chesapeake Bay front of Langley Air Force Base, is the oldest of NASA's field centers. LaRC has focused primarily on aeronautical research but has also ...

Dryden Flight Research Center The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California and is considered NASA's premier site for aeronautical rese ...

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

, California and

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

. The program became, at that time (2003), the most extensive study on the sonic boom. After measuring the 1,300 recordings, some taken inside the shock wave by a chase plane, the SSBD demonstrated a reduction in boom by about one-third. Several of the flights included NASA Dryden's F-15B research testbed aircraft following to measure the F-5E's

shock wave In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a me ...

signature close-up. During the flights, many shock wave patterns were measured by the F-15B at various distances and orientations from the F-5E. An unmodified F-5E flew a few seconds behind the demonstration aircraft to provide a baseline sonic boom measurement to validate the reduced boom produced by the demonstrator. A U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School Blanik L-23 glider carrying a microphone on the left wingtip, and a pressure transducer on the side of the fuselage, flew at a lower altitude of under the path of the F-5E, which flew at , to record sonic booms in the air. In addition, sonic boom data were gathered on the ground by an array of 42 sensors and recording devices along under the flight path of the F-5E. Dryden-developed boom amplitude and direction sensors recorded ground-level sonic boom signature data. The demonstration was initially part of the Quiet Supersonic Platform program funded by

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

(DARPA). Subsequently, the vehicle systems division of NASA's Office of Aeronautics funded the project. Northrop-Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems Sector in

El Segundo, California El Segundo ( , ; ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located on Santa Monica Bay, it was incorporated on January 18, 1917, and is part of the South Bay Cities Council of Governments. The population was 17,272 as of t ...

, modified the U.S. Navy F-5E aircraft into the SSBD aircraft. The aircraft is on display at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum at

Titusville, Florida Titusville is a city in and the county seat of Brevard County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 48,789, up from 43,761 at the 2010 census. Titusville is located along the ...

References

External links

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NASA Dryden Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration Photo Collection

"Quieting the Boom: The Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstrator and the Quest for Quiet Supersonic Flight" by Lawrence R. Benson (NASA Aeronautics Book Series)
{{NASA space program NASA programs DARPA NASA aircraft Northrop Grumman aircraft

See also

References

External links