may14SW.pdf Jun. 2014 | Page 16

INDUSTRY NEWS Various stages have been gone through, from the basic design of the vehicle and bringing together the team to then build it. The vehicle being named BLOODHOUND SSC after Ron Ayers’ first missile, the Bristol Bloodhound 2 an incredible surface-to-air missile that could accelerate from standstill to Mach 1 in 2.5 seconds. And BLOODHOUND is no lightweight, weighing in at 7 ½ tons, and is 44 feet long by 6 feet wide, powered by three engines: a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet from a Eurofighter Typhoon, a cluster of NAMMO hybrid rockets and a 650 bhp racecar engine that drives the rocket oxidiser pump. Between them they generate 135,000 equivalent hp, equal to 180 F1 cars. And at full speed BLOODHOUND SSC will cover a mile in 3.6 seconds, that’s 4.5 football pitches laid end to end per second. BLOODHOUND SSC is currently being assembled at the BLOODHOUND Technical Centre in Bristol. It is on schedule for roll out summer 2015 wh