KerbalX

Description

High Altitude Supersonic Tail-less Experiment flying wing concept demonstrator. This prototype is both fast & maneuverable; it’s also capable of circumnavigating Kerbin 3 times w/o refuel.

Cruise profile

• Altitude: 19km (initial), 24km (final)
• Speed: ~820m/s (~M 2.7)
• AOA: 5 deg
• Afterburner on at all times

Specifications

• Stock?: Yes
• Version: 1.0 ~ 1.0.5
• Type: Experimental flying wing
• Crew: 1
• Operational weight: 18.75t
• Empty weight: 6.75t
• Cruise speed: > M 2.7
• Range: > 12000km
• Propulsion: 2x J-404
• Size: 22.6m x 9.9m x 3.2m
• Part count: 27

Development history

As the name implies, H.A.S.T.E’s development schedule was quite hasty. An ambitious flying wing project using then-new large aircraft parts, this aircraft was originally intended to be powered by twin basic jets; it was soon found out that the cruise altitude could never exceed 10km with just the basic jet. While it was maneuverable and had dealt with unusual ‘elevator reversal’ phenomenon - which some of fellow flying wing designers out there would have met it at some point - it was decided to put this design into storage and hope for other jet engines to emerge later.

And 1.0.5 came, with variety of jet engine choice. With the new afterburning turbofan engine showing promise, I decided to revive this design. As the original design severely lacked yaw authority (even with thrust vectoring J-404s), I chose to add vertical stabilizers. Now with enhanced stability, the H.A.S.T.E demonstrates some remarkable characteristics of flying wing design: extremely high L/D, range over 12000km, and speed over Mach 2.7. That range, as demonstrated in album above, is enough to circumnavigate Kerbin 3 times and still it left some fuel. It’s also STOL, taking off within first mark of KSC runway. Everything on the H.A.S.T.E are optimized for high altitude cruise; even the intakes are canted 5 deg downward for minimal drag.

This extreme performance prompted the development of actually useful aircraft.

Trivia

The actual craft file couldn’t be named H.A.S.T.E because apparently, KSP hates periods in craft names… :(