Hypersonic

Britain's Ministry of Defence, with the help of the United States, has achieved what is being billed as a major hypersonic propulsion test of a new engine design that could power a cutting-edge hypersonic cruise missile for UK armed forces by 2030.

In a major defense milestone, the US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG-91) has successfully completed a simulated engagement with a live hypersonic missile in the waters off the Hawaiian Islands.

The US Army and Navy have successfully flown its Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon system in an end-to-end test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida with the Battery Operations Center and a Transporter Erector Launcher that it will use in the field.

A self-propagating series of explosions, contained between the blades of a high-speed rotor, promises a leap in power and efficiency during hypersonic flight – provided this radical new engine can be built strong enough to withstand its own power.

A major player in aerospace innovation has bitten the dust. Reaction Engines, a developer of hypersonic engine technology since 1989, has gone into administration and its closure is having an impact on the hypersonic weapons program of Britain and others.

When is an empty tube not an empty tube? When it's a ramjet that uses rotating detonation technology to propel aircraft at hypersonic speeds. A case in point is Venus Aerospace's new Venus Detonation Ramjet 2000 lb Thrust Engine (VDR2).

Aerospace startup Dawn Aerospace has made a major advance in its push to create a highly reusable spaceplane. The latest test flight reached transonic speeds of Mach 0.92 and an altitude of 50,000 ft (15,000 m), or 3 times and 5 times, respectively, better than before.

Lockheed Martin has released more details about its Mako hypersonic missile that the company is building for the US Air Force and international customers. The multi-mission missile that flies at Mach 5+ can be launched from a wide variety of aircraft.

The US Army is pushing for full deployment of its first hypersonic missiles, with its Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon Battery taking part in Exercise Resolute Hunter 24-2 at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada along with forces from the Five Eyes alliance.

China has just made another move on the hypersonic missile war game board. An incredibly accurate laser-based radar system has been announced that would be able to track objects ripping through the sky at over four miles per second.

Hypersonic aircraft will need hypersonic engines. With that goal in mind, Ursa Major under a US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contract has conducted a series of hotfire tests of its advanced Draper liquid-fuel rocket engine at its Berthoud, Colorado headquarters.

Hermeus has stolen another quick march on its way to building a hypersonic aircraft as it begins testing its proprietary precooler on a Pratt & Whitney F100 jet engine that will be installed in the company's Quarterhorse Mk 2 prototype.