New experimental jet debuts in SoCal

Southern California specialty aerospace developer Scaled Composites has unveiled a new experimental aircraft for an unspecified “proprietary customer.”

The Northrop Grumman subsidiary says the singleengine jet flew for the first time Wednesday.

The Mojave-based company says Model 401 is the first of a pair of airplanes intended “to demonstrate advanced, low-cost manufacturing techniques, and to provide aircraft for research flight services to industry partners and the United States government.”

The jet has a 38-foot wingspan, is 38 feet long and will fly at Mach 0.6, with a service ceiling of 30,000 feet. It is powered by a Pratt & Whitney JTD-15D-5D engine. Scaled Composites is known for such revolutionary aerospace designs as the SpaceShipOne rocket, which won the Ansari X Prize after successful manned flights into space in 2004.