forebody is an example of cone-derived waverider]] A waverider is a hypersonic aircraft design that improves its supersonic lift-to-drag ratio by producing a lifting surface built out of the shock waves being generated by its own flight, a technique known as compression lift. To date the only aircraft to use the technique is the Mach 3 supersonic XB-70 Valkyrie, which was waverider-like with its drooping wingtips. The waverider remains a well-studied design for high-speed aircraft in the Mach 5 and higher hypersonic regime, although no production design has used the concept to date. The Boeing X-51A WaveRider scramjet demonstration aircraft is in the final stages of development and expected to make its first flight in October, 2009.Boeing, Point Paper on X-51A Scramjet Engine Flight Demonstrator, document 88ABW-2009-1118 History The waverider concept was first developed by Terence Nonweiler of the Queen

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