Missiles 10 times faster than today’s and troops deployed to the other side of the world in just a few hours are all part of the hypersonic future being developed by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and the University of Queensland (UQ).

The Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Mr Warren Snowdon, has announced that DSTO will fund a Chair in Hypersonics at UQ in a significant boost to high-speed flight research.

“Hypersonics is the study of flight exceeding approximately five times the speed of sound, and a closer DSTO/UQ collaboration will strengthen Australia’s position as a world leader in the field,” Mr Snowdon Said.

“Future applications for hypersonic travel include the inexpensive launch of satellites, and scramjets (supersonic ramjets) for long-range time critical missions.”

DSTO’s Deputy Chief Defence Scientist (Information and Weapons System), Dr Warren Harch, said the Chair enhances an already excellent alliance and will foster long-term developments.

“The research will focus on scramjet technology, and the Hypersonics International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) Agreement,” Dr Harch said.

“In November 2006 DSTO signed a $74 million HIFiRE Agreement with the United States Air Force that will comprise up to 10 hypersonic flight experiments planned for the Woomera Testing Facility over the next five years.

“The DSTO funding will also go towards the University’s ‘T4 shock tunnel’ for experimental modelling of flights.”

Dr Russell Boyce of the University of New South Wales, at the Australian Defence Force Academy, has been appointed DSTO Chair and Professor in Hypersonics.

He will work alongside Associate Professor Michael Smart, formerly of NASA, who has been appointed to the position of Chair and Professor in Hypersonic Propulsion.