A supercruising aircraft is able to cruise at supersonic speeds without the use of afterburners. Look up aircraft in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A United States Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in transonic flight. ... For other uses of afterburner, see Afterburner (disambiguation). ...

Advantages

Afterburners, which most military aircraft use to travel at supersonic speeds, are very inefficient compared to conventional jet engine operation due to the low pressures typically found in the exhaust section. Therefore, in general, an aircraft which can supercruise has greater endurance at supersonic speeds than one which cannot. Furthermore, without a requirement to carry such a large quantity of fuel, a supercruise-capable aircraft can have a more favourable fuel fraction, the proportion of the plane's overall mass which is devoted to fuel. SR-71 in flight with J58 on full afterburner An afterburner is an additional component added to some jet engines, primarily those on military aircraft. ... The GlobalFlyer had a fuel fraction near 85% — it could carry five times its weight in fuel. ...

History

The first turbine-powered aircraft to exceed Mach 1 in level flight without afterburners was the P.1 prototype of the English Electric Lightning, on August 4, 1954. However, this early demonstration of supercruise was extremely limited; the Lightning could supercruise at approximately Mach 1.02. The English Electric Lightning (later the BAC Lightning) was a supersonic fighter aircraft of the Cold War era, particularly remembered for its great speed and natural metal exterior. ... is the 216th day of the year (217th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Only the civilian SSTs Concorde and Tupolev Tu-144 spent most of their time supercruising. Many of the fighters listed as capable of supercruise can only marginally exceed the speed of sound without afterburners and may only be able to do so without an external weapons load. In day-to-day operation Concorde used reheat (afterburners) to accelerate through the high-drag transonic flight regime; although it was capable of reaching its top speed without the use of reheat, the excessive fuel consumption involved in doing so made this impractical for commercial flights. Unlike Concorde's Soviet counterpart, the Tu-144, which was capable of supercruise at Mach 1.6, Concorde could supercruise at Mach 2.0. For the Tupolev to attain this speed, it required continuous reheat, and a cruising speed of Mach 1.6 was adopted for the service period of the 10 first-generation Tu-144s. Later Tu-144s had more powerful military engines fitted which were not as restrictive, giving only slightly less range but higher speeds than Concorde. British Airways Concorde G-BOAB. Concorde G-BOAD on a barge beneath Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City in November 2003, bound for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. ... The Tupolev Tu-144 (NATO reporting name: Charger) was the first supersonic transport aircraft (SST), constructed under the direction of the Soviet Tupolev design bureau headed by Alexei Tupolev (1925–2001). ... Sound is a vibration that travels through an elastic medium as a wave. ... An object falling through a gas or liquid experiences a force in direction opposite to its motion. ... Transonic is an aeronautics term referring to a range of velocities just below and above the speed of sound. ...

Military use

For military aircraft, the F-22 Raptor and Eurofighter Typhoon's supercruise capabilities are touted as a major performance advantage over other fighters. Even so, supercruising uses much more fuel to travel the same distance than at subsonic speeds: The Air Force Association estimates that use of supercruise for a 100 nautical mile dash as part of a mission would cut the F-22's combat radius from about 600 to about 450 nautical miles. However, this is still unconfirmed as the altitude and flight profile are classified (as are most of the F-22A's capabilities). There is no way to compare this with other aircraft; however, most aircraft using afterburner to fly at supersonic speeds will have exhausted their fuel supplies very rapidly. The F-22 Raptor is a fifth generation fighter aircraft which utilizes fourth generation Stealth technology. ... Official Eurofighter logo. ...

The F-22A Raptor has demonstrated supercruise speeds of at least Mach 1.58, a difference of 320 knots indicated airspeed (KIAS) at 40,000 ft. (Source: http://www.f-22raptor.com/af_airframe.php) Supercruise in militarily significant parlance is meant to imply a significant increase in effective combat speed with a full weapons load over existing types. Virtually all current and past jet fighters, prior to the F-22, cruise at approximately Mach 0.8~0.9 with a militarily significant weapons load. The Raptor, and the Eurofighter Typhoon, represent a significant advance in cruise speed over existing types (for performance of current USAF types, see Air Force Magazine, May 2006, "Gallery of USAF Weapons," pp. 147-155 - http://www.afa.org/magazine/may2006/0506weapons.pdf).

Supersonic, but non supercruising aircraft

The J58 engines of the Lockheed A-12 and SR-71 Blackbird were designed for sustained and efficient operation at supersonic speeds using afterburners with air that was diverted past the turbojet core of the engine. This gave a good compression ratio and higher efficiency simply due to the ram effect at the high operating speed of the aircraft. The afterburners acted essentially as ramjets and these types of engines achieve peak efficiency at around Mach 3. The Lockheed YF-12 was a prototype interceptor aircraft that formed the basis for the SR-71 Blackbird. ... The Lockheed SR-71 was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed YF-12A and A-12 aircraft by the Lockheed Skunk Works. ... A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, is a type of jet engine. ...

In a somewhat similar vein, the XB-70A Valkyrie made use of specially designed turbojets (six General Electric YJ-93 engines) to sustain speeds in excess of Mach 3. Unlike the J-58 engines powering the SR-71, the YJ-93 engines of the XB-70A did not require the use of special fuel, and did not radically modify the intake/exhaust geometry in order to achieve Mach 3 flight. The YJ-93 engines did operate in afterburner at Mach 3; however, the engines were specifically designed to be very efficient in afterburner, and the XB-70A AV-2 prototype sustained speeds in excess of Mach 3 for 32 minutes on one flight. Furthermore, the type was designed to operate at such speeds for periods of hours over intercontinental ranges.^[1] The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was conceived for the Strategic Air Command in the 1950s as a high-altitude bomber that could fly three times the speed of sound (Mach 3). ...

Aircraft with supercruise

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Aircraft with supercruise include: Image File history File links Circle-question. ...

• BAC TSR-2
• Concorde
• Dassault-Breguet Rafale
• English Electric Lightning
• Eurofighter Typhoon
• F-4 Phantom II (Israeli "Super Phantom" variant)
• F-14B/D
• F-15C (in an unweaponised state)
• F-15E/K
• General Dynamics F-16C Block 50/52
• General Dynamics F-16XL
• F-22 Raptor
• HAL HF-24 Marut^[2]
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-31
• Sukhoi Su-27
• Sukhoi Su-30
• Sukhoi Su-35
• Sukhoi Su-37
• Sukhoi Su-47
• HAL Tejas (Prototype flew at Mach 1.4 in an unweaponised state)
• Tupolev Tu-144
• Tupolev Tu-128
• XB-70 Valkyrie
• YF-23 Black Widow II

The BAC TSR-2 was an ill-fated cold war project developed by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) in the early 1960s. ... British Airways Concorde G-BOAB. Concorde G-BOAD on a barge beneath Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City in November 2003, bound for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. ... The logo of the Dassault Rafale program. ... The English Electric Lightning (later the BAC Lightning) was a supersonic fighter aircraft of the Cold War era, particularly remembered for its great speed and natural metal exterior. ... Official Eurofighter logo. ... The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II[2] is a two-seat supersonic long-range all-weather fighter-bomber originally developed for the U.S. Navy by McDonnell Douglas. ... Sailors prepare an F-14 Tomcat for flight on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003). ... The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an all-weather, extremely maneuverable, tactical fighter designed to permit the U.S. Air Force to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. ... See F-15 Eagle for main F-15 page. ... The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft developed by General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin for the United States Air Force. ... The General Dynamics F-16XL is a derivative of the F-16 Fighting Falcon, with a cranked-arrow delta wing that is over twice the size of that of the standard F-16 wing. ... The F-22 Raptor is a fifth generation fighter aircraft which utilizes fourth generation Stealth technology. ... HAL HF-24 Marut The Hindustan Aeronautics HF-24 Marut (Sanskrit: storm deity) was an Indian fighter-bomber aircraft of the 1960s. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Mikoyan MiG-31 Foxhound The Mikoyan MiG-31 (МиГ-31 in Cyrillic script) (NATO reporting name Foxhound) is a high-speed interceptor developed to replace the MiG-25. ... The Sukhoi Su-27 (Су-27 in the Cyrillic alphabet) (NATO reporting name Flanker) is originally a Soviet fighter aircraft designed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau (SDB). ... The Sukhoi Su-30 (NATO reporting name Flanker-C) is an agile military aircraft developed by Russias Sukhoi Aviation Corporation and introduced into operational service in 1996. ... Su-35 cockpit This image is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... The Sukhoi Su-37 Terminator (NATO designation: Flanker-F) is a Russian multi-role jet fighter aircraft. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The HAL Tejas (Sanskrit:  : Radiance) is an advanced, lightweight, supersonic multirole fighter aircraft being developed by India. ... The Tupolev Tu-144 (NATO reporting name: Charger) was the first supersonic transport aircraft (SST), constructed under the direction of the Soviet Tupolev design bureau headed by Alexei Tupolev (1925–2001). ... The Tupolev Tu-28 (NATO reporting name Fiddler) was developed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s as a long-range interceptor. ... The North American XB-70 Valkyrie was conceived for the Strategic Air Command in the 1950s as a high-altitude bomber that could fly three times the speed of sound (Mach 3). ... The Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 Black Widow II — unofficially named by Northrop after its P-61 Black Widow — was a prototype fighter aircraft designed for the United States Air Force. ...

References

See also

• Fuel fraction