US Hyperjet Too Fast For US To Follow

[Rob McCow]

If you design, build and test an unmaned plane that can fly at 13,000 miles an hour, how do you make sure you don't lose it?

Don't ask the US Air Force!

From the Wall Street Journal:

What flies at 13,000 miles per hour, can withstand temperatures of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit, and, apparently, is very hard to spot? The Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, or HTV-2, an unmanned aircraft that was launched Thursday by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Around 10:45 a.m. EDT, an Air Force Minotaur IV rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., carrying the HTV-2, a rocket-launched aircraft that is supposed to test the limits of hypersonic flight, reaching speeds of up to Mach 20.

Shortly after liftoff, all seemed to be going to plan. The agency’s Twitter feed posted this message: “Confirmation of a successful #HTV2 separation from the Minotaur IV launch vehicle.”

That meant the HVT2 was on track, and about to begin its hypersonic glide across the Pacific. A few minutes later, another, less optimistic message popped up on Twitter: “Range assets have lost telemetry with #HTV2. More to follow.”

As of around 1:30 p.m. in Washington, DARPA had not provided additional updates on the success of the mission, which is supposed to help improve the understanding of how to control and maintain communication with an aircraft that reaches speeds of up to 3.6 miles per second.

The latest message from the agency states: “Downrange assets did not reacquire tracking or telemetry. #HTV2 has an autonomous flight termination capability. More to follow.”

Termination of the flight is not necessarily considered a failure. During a test last year, researchers lost contact with the HTV-2 nine minutes after launch. But the agency said the flight yielded valuable data, including 139 seconds of data on extremely high-speed flight, ranging from Mach 17 to Mach 22.

Today’s flight — it was postponed on Wednesday due to weather –was the second of a series of planned flights for the exotic aircraft, which is supposed to help develop the concept of “prompt global strike” – the military’s ability to hit a target, on short notice, anywhere on the globe.

DARPA did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.

This plane can get to Australia or anywhere in under an hour! But apparently it hasn't gone to 'Australia' it's gone to 'Anywhere'.

[Philipnet]

Has it gone to Timbuktu?

[WhiteCrowNZ]

The problem with an aircraft with such range and speed ... could be anywhere.

Nice to know technology can still bite in the arse when it wants.