Friggin Cool - HTV-2

[Egg]

By the time you finish reading this sentence, the Falcon HTV-2, the fastest plane ever built, could have flown 18 miles. It would get from London to Sydney in less than an hour, while withstanding temperatures of almost 2,000C, hotter than the melting point of steel.

At 3pm BST on Thursday , the US Defence Advance Research Projects Agency will launch the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 on the back of a rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. If all goes to plan, engineers will launch the Falcon HTV-2 to the edge of space, before detaching the plane and guiding it on a hypersonic flight that will reach speeds of 13,000mph (about 20 times the speed of sound) on its return to Earth.

The Falcon started life in 2003, part of a US military research project to build a plane that could reach (and potentially deliver bombs to) any part of the world in less than an hour.

The plane has been tested in computer models and wind tunnels, but they can only simulate speeds up to Mach 15 (11,400mph). A real test is the only way to determine if the plane will remain flying at high speeds.

Thursday’s flight will also test the carbon composite materials designed to withstand the extreme temperatures the plane will experience on its skin and also the navigation systems that will control its trajectory as it moves at almost four miles per second.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/au ... ane-falcon

[Pam]

Hahahahaha.... I just copied this ready to start a thread when I saw your post

New York to LA in less than 12 minutes
By CNN's Adam Levine

The US military is preparing to launch a test flight of an unmanned hypersonic aircraft capable of reaching any target in the world in less than an hour.

Designed by the military research group DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), the triangular wedge of zoom is capable of reaching Mach 20, which is approximately 13,000 miles per hour, according to the agency. At such a speed, the aircraft will be subject to temperatures in excess of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

The test of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, called HTV-2, is slated for Thursday between 10aET and 4pET from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It will be launched off of a Minotaur IV rocket and then re-enter the earth's atmosphere over the Pacific.

This is the second run for the hypersonic vehicle. A first test in April 2010 ended with the HTV-2 crashing into the Pacific after a loss of contact nine minutes into the flight. But those nine minutes provided DARPA with some key information about flying at 3.6 miles per second. The second flight will build on that as the team tests capability of maintaining control and communications, resisting the intense heat and other effects of flying 22 times faster than a commercial jetliner. As DARPA puts it on the HTV-2 site, at that speed "air doesn’t travel around you - you rip it apart."

The launch, originally slated for Wednesday but then scrubbed because of weather, will not be broadcast live but you can follow progress on the DARPA Twitter feed.

Source: http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/1 ... ?hpt=hp_c2

[Egg]

Well, you had the cool picture.

[Dr Exile]

It fall down go boom.

[Royal]

When can we strap nukes on it?

[lkwalker]

Zippy for the win.

[Pigeon]

The shuttles served their purpose. The military learned how to make death and destruction go faster.

[Pigeon]

Anytown US 2014 - People try to keep their fears in check by staying patriotic. As they sit in neighborhoods that now resemble third world countries they don't complain about the single can of beans they have for a daily meal. "Acme Bean Corp beans is good" states one man. They lift their spirits with the thought that their country can bomb any place on the planet in one hour or less. "Our military is making sure these bad guys don't ruin our American way of life" is a often spoken phrase in these parts.

What do they put in those beans, they sure are good.

[Egg]

It is amazing how so many fall for the idea that we need to be able to blow up the world. 100 years ago we had one of the worst armies in the Western world. Amazing.

[Pigeon]

And willing to spend half of the country's money on it. Just like a bunch of jocks trying to a champion.