The Hypersonic Revolution: Case Studies in the History of Hypersonic Technology, Volume 3 - The Quest for the Orbital Jet: The National Aero-Space Plane Program NASP (1983-1995) and the X-30, SSTO

This is a print replica reproduction of an important official USAF history with fascinating and comprehensive studies by leading experts and authorities on hypersonic aerospace vehicle technology, assembled and edited by the Aeronautical Systems Division of Air Force Systems Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

This is Volume Three of three, covering the historic effort build the National Aero-Space Plane (NASP). Contents:

Chapter 1: A Jet into Orbit?
Program Direction: Entering the Quagmire of Strategic and Technical Tradeoffs
Space Economics and the Promise of Low-Cost to Orbit
What was NASP~or, what was NASP supposed to be?
Origins of the Aerospace Plane
NASP Phase I: Copper Canyon and DARPA, 1981-1984
The Memorandum of Agreement, 1985
Early Internal Contradictions in NASP
Policy Questions of the NASP Program

Chapter 2: Trapped Inside the Tension Box
Program Management Organization
Differing Visions of the Program: Early Fissures
The NASP Tension Box
Unequal Partners: SDIO and the Navy Program
Funding Projections
Williams and Staten: "Mr. Outside" and "Mr. Inside"
NASP Management: the Early Months

Chapter 3: The Contractors Come In
Contractor Selection and the Exclusion of DuPont
Corporate "Contributions:" The Ante to Play in the NASP "Game"
Structure of the American Aerospace Industry: Implications for NASP
NASP Contractors and Corporate "Contribution"
Airframe Companies: Funding, Commitments, and Early Designs
Propulsion Contractors: Funding, Commitments, Technology
Early Management Difficulties at NASA
Managing the Contractors' Work: the "Tech Mat" Effort
Government as its Own Contractor
Materials and Management
The 1987 Downselection: Boeing, Lockheed, General Electric are Eliminated

Chapter 4: New Leaders, New Directors
Forming the National Contractor Team
Managing NASP at the Contractor Tea: Government-Industry "Work Buckets"
Reorganizing the JPO for the Managing the National Contractor Team
Early Contractor Operations

Chapter 5: Team Formation and "Incremental" Politics
The NASP Cost Estimate
Stairways to Heaven: The "Incremental" Approach to SSTO Design
Developments and Weight Growth in the X-30
Team Progress and the Interim Award Fee Technical Progress
Toward X-30 Fabrication
Technical Reality, Schedules, and Budgets, 1991-1992
The Incremental Approach Becomes the "Two-Aircraft" Approach
Management and Technology at the NPO

Chapter 6: The Battle of Ideas
The Applications Directorate: Building User Support for NASP
"Pioneering New Frontiers:" The "New" NASP Image
The War for Enthusiasm: Promoting NASP in the Popular Press
"Technology Transition" and Program Hopes
NASP, Technology, and "Industrial Policy"
Continued Expansion of the NASP Bureaucracy
Concerns About NASP on Capitol Hill
Technical Advances Continue-Would They Be Enough?

Chapter 7: Hypersonic Hopes, Deferred Dreams
The Research Plan, Budgets, and Schedules
Testing and Flying a Scramjet
Technical Advances and Test Facilities, 1992
Pressures to Internationalize NASP
HYFLITEI and II, Reprise Attrition and Talent Deletion at NASP

Chapter 8: The Final Tally
"Team" Operations in NASP: Strengths and Weaknesses
The Integrated Aircraft vs. The Research Mission
Revolutionary Management in NASP?