- Joined
- Sep 20, 2016
For a military with the world’s largest defence budget, things move at a glacial pace, or so experts say. Therefore, it’s surprising that the US Navy actually managed to design, build and test a new ramjet missile in just six months.
How did they do it? Off-the-shelf parts and a credit card.
To avoid bureaucracy and miles of red tape, the team behind the rocket decided to keep things small and use off-the-shelf parts. Most of the components, in fact, were simply bought with a credit card. They were also relatively cheap, which allowed the team to test their design more frequently.
A normal defence purchase would involve tedious budgeting, red tape and the setting up of contracts.
US Navy scientists decided to buy a commercially available rocket motor, designed for hobby rockets, and used it in their missile. It worked. There was no need to set up a rocket motor factory or contract the unit out to a defence company. It was cheaper to buy the $900 rocket motor than to develop one in-house.
Rapid testing helped speed up development and within 6 months, a solid-fuel, ramjet engine missile was ready.
By contrast, India’s own anti-ship Brahmos missile, which also uses a ramjet, took many years to develop.
The US Navy’s prototype rocket claims to offer three times the range of a liquid-fuel rocket and is faster.
http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/us-navy-develops-a-brahmos-like-ramjet-powered-missile-in-just-6-months-using-off-the-shelf-parts-368428.html
How did they do it? Off-the-shelf parts and a credit card.
To avoid bureaucracy and miles of red tape, the team behind the rocket decided to keep things small and use off-the-shelf parts. Most of the components, in fact, were simply bought with a credit card. They were also relatively cheap, which allowed the team to test their design more frequently.
A normal defence purchase would involve tedious budgeting, red tape and the setting up of contracts.
US Navy scientists decided to buy a commercially available rocket motor, designed for hobby rockets, and used it in their missile. It worked. There was no need to set up a rocket motor factory or contract the unit out to a defence company. It was cheaper to buy the $900 rocket motor than to develop one in-house.
Rapid testing helped speed up development and within 6 months, a solid-fuel, ramjet engine missile was ready.
By contrast, India’s own anti-ship Brahmos missile, which also uses a ramjet, took many years to develop.
The US Navy’s prototype rocket claims to offer three times the range of a liquid-fuel rocket and is faster.
http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/us-navy-develops-a-brahmos-like-ramjet-powered-missile-in-just-6-months-using-off-the-shelf-parts-368428.html