US Military to Launch Hypersonic Rocket Plane by 2016 (Space.com)

[eppur_se_muova]

The U.S. military aims to fly a full-scale rocket plane at 20 times the speed of sound by 2016, officials announced last week.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, laid out its plan to develop and test-fly the hypersonic vehicle in a press release issued Friday (July 6). The so-called X-plane would travel at Mach 20 — roughly 13,000 mph (20,900 kph) — allowing the military to reach any spot on the globe in less than an hour.

Further, the vehicle would be "recoverable," according to the release — meaning the government could get it back.

To help make all this happen, DARPA has started up a new program called Integrated Hypersonics. IH will build off previous Defense Department research into ultra-fast flight but will need to make some major strides of its own, officials said. [NASA's Vision of Future Air Travel]
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more: http://www.space.com/16524-darpa-hypersonic-rocket-plane-2016.html




A similar article was published in the Huntsville Times a few days ago -- but al.com provides no link. A Google search yields scattered results. Odd.

[Occulus]

1. "US Military To Reveal Prior Existance Of Hypersonic Plane by 2016"

Yes, I'm a cynic.

[Phoonzang]

2. I'm confused...I thought this was meant to be a missile

Are they talking about a manned plane now? A drone maybe? Because if it's "recoverable" that would seem to indicate that it's not just a glorified cruise missile.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. DOD works in mysterious ways ... great are its wonders. nt