The 14-X is a Brazilian scramjet engine in development by the Aerothermodynamics and Hypersonics Laboratory Henry T. Nagamatsu of the Institute of Advanced Studies (IEAv) of the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology as part of the PropHiper (Portuguese: Projeto de Propulsão Hipersônica 14-X).[1][2] The name is a reference to the 14-bis, of the Brazilian inventor and aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont.[3]
Brazil conducts studies in the field of aspirated hypersonics since 1990s,[1] but a development plan was conceived only in 2007, through the PropHiper project, made official by the Air Force in 2008,[8] when the engineer-captain of the Brazilian Air Force, Tiago Cavalcanti Rolim, started a master's degree at the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) and was approved with a thesis on the waverider configuration.[3] The development of the project started with an experimental model by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the same year.[3] Testing of the hypersonic engine started in October 2009.[2]
Project details
Project steps and demonstrators to be builtA video showing a VSB-30 launch in Esrange, Sweden as part of TEXUS 49 in 2011.
On 2 December 2021, the Air Force's Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA) announced the beginning of Cruzeiro Operation seeking to conduct the first flight of the 14-X.[9] The flight date was kept confidential.[9]
Development of the 14-X project involves the building of four hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicles, each with its own demonstrational objectives:[1]
14-XS: ballistic ascending flight with supersonic combustion;
14-XSP: ballistic ascending flight with aspirated hypersonic propulsion;
14-XW: Demonstration of glided flight, without propulsion, of a controllable and maneuverable hypersonic vehicle with guidance, navigation and control systems during hypersonic stratospheric flight;
14-XWP: autonomous flight of a controllable and maneuverable vehicle with active aspirated hypersonic propulsion.
Purpose
The technology is considered by Brazil as one of the most efficient means of accessing space in the near future, and could be used to place satellites in orbit and make suborbital flights.[3][2] It can also be used in other areas such as the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles with a more potent rocket or in civil aviation.[2]