Mac Jee to Develop Launch Rocket for 14-X Hypersonic Propulsion Vehicle Program.

On July 23, 2024, the Spanish newspaper Info Defensa announced that the defense and aerospace company Mac Jee distinguished itself by winning the call for proposals from the Brazilian Agency for Project Financing (Finep) to develop a revolutionary hypersonic vehicle. This ambitious project, dubbed 14-X, will propel the Brazilian aerospace industry into a new era of innovation and growth.
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Mc Jee Launch Rocket for 14-X Hypersonic Propulsion Vehicle Program  (Picture source: Brazil MoD)

Since the mid-1990s, the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), through the Institute of Advanced Studies (IEAv), a military techno-scientific organization belonging to the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology (DCTA) based in São José dos Campos (SP), has been actively researching aspirated hypersonic technologies.

In 2008, to coordinate and strengthen these efforts, the hypersonic propulsion project 14-X, known as PropHiper, was established. Its mission is to develop a demonstration platform for two critical technologies in the field of aspirated hypersonics: the scramjet engine and the waverider aerodynamic surface. Consequently, the integrated scramjet-waverider vehicle will be capable of reaching ten times the speed of sound, approximately 12,000 kilometers per hour, at an altitude of 30 kilometers. This advancement places Brazil alongside countries such as the United States, Japan, Australia, Russia, France, and China, which are also leading in research and development in this field.

The 14-X project aims to develop a launch system capable of propelling the Brazilian Air Force's (FAB) hypersonic aircraft into optimal flight conditions, safely and controllably. Mac Jee, with its engineering expertise and manufacturing capabilities, plays a crucial role in the realization of this project, thereby contributing to the development of critical technologies for national defense.

The Strategic Hypersonic Propulsion Program 14-X (PropHiper) aims to demonstrate autonomous hypersonic flight capabilities with aspirated propulsion. The project is divided into four major objectives: flight tests of the technological demonstrators 14-X S and 14-X SP, which will respectively explore supersonic combustion and aspirated hypersonic propulsion; 14-X W, which will test the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) systems in flight without propulsion; and WP 14-X, aiming to demonstrate autonomous flight with active aspirated hypersonic propulsion.

These crucial tests focus on the use of a scramjet engine, a supersonic combustion engine that operates with hydrogen and atmospheric air, and is tested in captive ballistic flight at strategic altitudes between 30 and 40 kilometers, and speeds reaching Mach 7.

The subsequent phases of the project will focus on the use of aspirated hypersonic propulsion for short-duration autonomous flights. The 14-X W and 14-X WP aim to demonstrate the effectiveness of the GNC subsystems and advanced materials under flight conditions, and to test propulsion based on the conical shock wave effect generated in hypersonic flight.

The success of these demonstrators will depend on the development of a larger capacity accelerator vehicle, which Mac Jee is currently tasked with developing. This project represents not only a significant milestone for Mac Jee but also a major step forward for the Brazilian aerospace sector as a whole, marking the country as an influential player on the global technological stage.