Nuclear-powered aircraft
A nuclear-powered aircraft is a concept for an aircraft intended to be powered by nuclear energy. The intention was to produce a jet engine that would heat compressed air with heat from fission, instead of heat from burning fuel.[1] During the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union researched nuclear-powered bomber aircraft, the greater endurance of which could enhance nuclear deterrence, but neither country created any such operational aircraft.[2]
This article is about aircraft nuclear propulsion. For the US Air Force program, see Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion. For the crystallographic feature known as an atomic plane, see crystallography.
One inadequately solved design problem was the need for heavy shielding to protect the crew and those on the ground from radiation; other potential problems included dealing with crashes.[1][3]
Some missile designs included nuclear-powered hypersonic cruise missiles.
However, the advent of ICBMs and nuclear submarines in the 1960s greatly diminished the strategic advantage of such aircraft, and respective projects were canceled.[1]
Soviet programs[edit]
Soviet nuclear bomber scare[edit]
The 1 December 1958 issue of Aviation Week included an article, "Soviets Flight Testing Nuclear Bomber", that claimed that the Soviets had greatly progressed a nuclear aircraft program:[10] "[a] nuclear-powered bomber is being flight tested in the Soviet Union. Completed about six months ago, this aircraft has been flying in the Moscow area for at least two months. It has been observed both in flight and on the ground by a wide variety of foreign observers from Communist and non-Communist countries." Unlike the US designs of the same era, which were purely experimental, the article noted that "The Soviet aircraft is a prototype of a design to perform a military mission as a continuous airborne alert warning system and missile launching platform." Photographs illustrated the article, along with technical diagrams on the proposed layout; these were so widely seen that one company produced a plastic model aircraft based on the diagrams in the article. An editorial on the topic accompanied the article.[11]
Concerns were soon expressed in Washington that "the Russians were from three to five years ahead of the US in the field of atomic aircraft engines and that they would move even further ahead unless the US pressed forward with its own program".[12] These concerns caused continued but temporary funding of the US's own program.
The aircraft in the photographs was later revealed to be the conventional Myasishchev M-50 Bounder, a medium-range strategic bomber that performed like the United States Air Force-operated B-58 Hustler. The design was considered a failure, never entered service, and was revealed to the public on Soviet Aviation Day in 1963 at Monino, putting the issue to rest.[13]
Russian programs[edit]
In February 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had developed a new, nuclear-powered cruise missile with nuclear warhead that can evade air and missile defenses and hit any point on the globe.[1] According to the statements, its first flight test occurred in 2017. The missile was said to feature "a small-size super-powerful power plant that can be placed inside the hull of a cruise missile and guarantee a range of flight ten times greater than that of other missiles." The video showed the missile evading defense systems over the Atlantic, flying over Cape Horn and finally north towards Hawaii.[18][19][20][21] To-date there is no publicly available evidence to verify these statements. The Pentagon stated that it is aware of a Russian test of a nuclear-powered cruise missile but the system is still under development and had crashed in the Arctic in 2017.[22][23][24]
A RAND Corporation researcher specializing in Russia said "My guess is they're not bluffing, that they've flight-tested this thing. But that's incredible."[25] According to a CSIS fellow, such a nuclear-powered missile "has an almost unlimited range – you could have it flying around for long periods of time before you order it to hit something".[26] Putin's statements and the video showing a concept of the missile in flight suggest that it is not a supersonic ramjet like Project Pluto but a subsonic vehicle with a nuclear-heated turbojet or turbofan engine.
The new cruise missile is named 9M730 Burevestnik (Russian: Буревестник; "Storm petrel").[27]