The shame about mankind is that we can take something so beneficial and turn it into dark death.

I'm sorry but the X37b has already made hypersonic craft obsolete.

The X37b is an entirely different beast. The only thing that's assured with it is a reusable final stage. A hypersonic flight platform could dramatically lower the cost of space launches in a way that the X37 does not.

Interesting story since my father was a young test pilot in the 1950s who had met Chuck Yeager and Scott Crossfield back in their glory days of new records and aviation advancements. My father was one of nine test pilots flying the first swept wing bombers known as B47s which predated the more successful B52s. By age 30 he had logged over 10,000 hours mostly in high altitude jets. It was such a dangerous job that he quit the test pilot life and moved to commercial aviation. The other eight test pilots from his group all died in crashes during the late 1950s and early 1960s. The public doesn't realize how many pilots died to bring us modern air travel.

The US Navy has a bigger problem NOW!
The Yakhont is intended as a Russian surface ships and submarines anti-ship missile. It has been designed to defeat ships protected by the US AEGIS weapon system and its European counterparts. A group of several Yakhont missiles can attack a given target with one missile flying at an altitude of 15,000-ft (5,000 meters) while transmitting target data to the other missiles flying at 10-15 meters above sea level. The P-800 missiles operated by the Russian Armed Forces may have a maximum range of 600 kilometers.
Russian Yakhont
Specifications
Dimensions Diameter: 700 millimeter (27.6 inch) Length: 8.90 meter (350 inch)
Performance Max Cruising Flight Altitude: 15,000 foot (4,572 meter) Max Range: 300 kilometer (162 nautical mile) Min Range: 120 kilometer Sea-Skimming Flight Altitude: 10 meter
Speed Cruise Speed: 2.60 mach (3,108 kph) Top Speed: 3 mach (3,587 kph)
Weight Warhead: 200 kilogram (441 pound) Weight: 3,000 kilogram (6,614 pound)

Very nice and interesting article.

19th century fantasies of Jules Verne became realty of 20th century. By same logic, fantasies of yore years will be reality of 21st ! So is my faith in humanity .

Fantastic article mr Szondy ! A hypersonic spaceplane can have an advantage over SpaceX relauncable Falcon 9 when used for 50 astronauts. SpaceX should built the Falcon Heavy for non human cargo to LEO. From LEO spacefaring must become Nuclear Thermal Rockets based on Low Enriched Uranium. The NTR can be bimodal with Systems for Nuclear Power SNAP were this bimodal function of the NTR can be used for electricity generation decades AFTER the NTR has reached its lifespan.

A very well-written and thorough article. For every action there is a reaction, and it's no surprise that other countries are scrambling to design platforms that will be substantial compensators to the hyper-spending USA and its minions who seem to be obsessed with global dominance. Hypersonic flight is truly both a threat and an opportunity, but we still have no guarantee that a nuclear war is avoidable through deterrence.

Very well written and interesting article. It is articles like this that elevate gizmag-new atlas above other tech blogs and keep me coming back
Well done!