Hypersonic

Boeing has been tapped by DARPA to develop and test the technology that will be required to build a prototype to intercept hypersonic missiles in the upper atmosphere as part of the agency's four-year Glide Breaker program.

The US Naval Research Laboratory has funded a groundbreaking project to develop a new hypersonic engine capable of morphing its shape during flight to optimize power, thrust and efficiency. It's now entering experimental testing in Florida.

The French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) has announced that France launched its first hypersonic missile on June 26, 2023 at 10.00 pm CET from the DGA Biscarrosse site on the southwest coast of France near Bordeaux.

Better known for building and flying lightweight small and medium orbital launchers, Rocket Lab is branching out. The company has announced the successful full launch of its HASTE rocket, which is designed to boost hypersonic vehicles well past Mach 5.

Meet the X-66A, NASA's Sustainable Flight Demonstrator full-scale single-aisle research plane, featuring transonic truss-braced wings and designed to explore net-zero aviation emissions and more economical passenger flight near the speed of sound.

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has taken the wraps off "Sky Sonic," its advanced system for intercepting hostile hypersonic missiles traveling five times the speed of sound that will make its public debut at next week's Paris Air Show.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences has announced that the world's fastest hypersonic wind tunnel is up and running, a detonation-driven shock tunnel that'll allow aerodynamic testing for aircraft, spacecraft and missiles at air speeds up to Mach 30.

California startup Varda has celebrated the deployment of its first satellite, a test run of a fascinating space-based pharmaceuticals factory that moonlights as a hypersonic test rig during its Mach 25 re-entry to keep costs down.

California aerospace company Stratolaunch has taken a major step closer to the realization of its planned hypersonic flight launch system. Last weekend, the firm successfully released the TA-0 test vehicle from its Roc carrier aircraft.

The options for a practical hypersonic missile for the US have narrowed to one after Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Andrew P. Hunter revealed that the Department of Defense is cancelling Lockheed Martin's ARRW (AGM-183A) program.

Lockheed Martin has secured a contract worth a potential US$2 billion to install Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic missile launchers on the US Navy's three Zumwalt-class destroyers by the middle of the decade.

A DARPA-led project has successfully completed the final test of Lockheed Martin's Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile. Powered by an Aerojet Rocketdyne scramjet, the craft reached a speed in excess of Mach 5 over a course 300 nm.