Japan plans test of 'new Concorde'

Posted on: Aug. 24th, 2005 || Source: cnn.com | E-mail Article | Print Article

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Japan's space agency plans to launch an arrow-shaped airplane at twice the speed of sound high over the Australian outback as early as next month in a crucial test of the country's push to develop a supersonic successor to the retired Concorde.

The test follows a three-year hiatus since the first experimental flight of the unmanned aircraft, dubbed the next-generation supersonic transport, prematurely separated from its booster rocket and crashed into the desert.

"We've made some improvements so that won't happen again," Takaaki Akuto, a spokesman for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, said Tuesday in Tokyo. "This is a pretty important test."

Read the full article

• New Global Hawk UAV model arrives at Beale
• Sixth C-17 swoops into Britain
• Air Force, Army leaders discuss new concept of operations
• RAF Typhoons now multi-role capable
• Raytheon Delivers 100th AESA Radar for Super Hornets, Growlers
• Boeing Installs Engines on 1st P-8A Poseidon
• Pilot tackles Typhoons during exchange duty in England
• Eurofighter Typhoon Begins Air Surveillance in Austria
• KC-45 Aerial Refueling Boom Completes Key Flight and Performance Milestones
• New Global Hawk UAV model scheduled to arrive at Beale
• Boeing Awarded B-52 Airborne Electronic Attack Technical Maturation Contract
• First A400M Military Transporter Rolled Out
• Thunderbirds 'Soar into Solstice' at Eielson AFB
• Boeing Statement on GAO Tanker Protest Report
• USAF formally revives B-52 jammer with five-year study