Via DefenseTech.org -
USA Today is reporting that DARPA lost contact with its unmanned Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 during a test flight launched earlier today.
The Falcon is an unmanned craft that uses a rocket booster to accelerate before gliding at hypersonic speeds of up to Mach 22 (or about 13,000 mph) through the Earth’s atmosphere. The goal of the project is to eventually enable the US military to strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour.
The Falcon launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base and successfully separated from the booster and entered the mission’s glide phase when telemetry was lost.
DARPA released no further details.
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Very unfortunate. This is a pretty serious setback to the development of global nonnuclear strike capability, which will be critical in the [long-term] future of the DoD.
Let's hope this isn't the end of the hypersonic jet/strike research.
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