Bloomberg reports:
A Pentagon agency reported losing contact with an unmanned hypersonic aircraft over the Pacific Ocean less than an hour after launch today.
The experimental Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, or HTV-2, lifted off today in a Minotaur IV rocket made by Orbital Sciences Corp. at 7:45 a.m. local time from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, according the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is funding the program and overseeing the tests.
[…]
Today’s flight was the aircraft’s second and final planned test flight. The first attempt on April 22, 2010, ended nine minutes into flight when the on-board computer detected a glitch and forced a splashdown. Data from the maiden voyage indicated the craft reached speeds of between Mach 17 and Mach 22.
A flight from New York to Los Angeles at such speeds would take less than 12 minutes, according to the Pentagon agency.
The project began in 2003 and cost $320 million, Eric Butterbaugh, a spokesman for the agency, said in an e-mail. The goal is to develop technology that could deliver a non-nuclear warhead anywhere in the world within an hour.
But don’t worry, says Tom Collina, research director at the Arms Control Association. The aircraft is “unlikely to be confused as a nuclear weapon because its trajectory is unlike the Bell-shaped curve of a ballistic missile.” Whew, I feel better.
Leave a Reply