From: Adam <""4thwormcastfromthemolehill\"{at}the field.near
the bridge">

Monte Davis wrote:
> Adam  wrote:
>
>> Humm... I'll pick my words with care. I have related why the UK ditched
>> HOTOL because of the "take off from CONUS, drop out of space to release
>> weapons & then back home for tea" scenario. It's why
world + dog are
>> watching the US/Australian hypersonic hydrogen/ethylene trials as a
>> vehicle travelling at those speeds & heights is but a smallish booster
>> rocket from the into space & back in time for tea.....idea.
>
> Absent near-magical breakthroughs in engines or materials,I doubt
> we'll see big hypersonic airbreathers for a long time to come ---
> whether as uber-bombers, as Orient Express airliners, or as flyback
> first stages for access to space. Everything (or more) you gain in
> speed, you lose in drag (= need for ever more power) and in heating &
> intake challenges. TANSTAAFL.
>
>
> Monte Davis
> http://montedavis.livejournal.com

Dear Boy.....noone said they'd be manned...

e.g.

http://news.thomasnet.com/IMT/archives/2007/01/australia_united_states_military
_collaboration_hypersonic_aircraft_missiles_scramjet_.html

http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn10889-hypersonic-weapons-projects-to-be
gin-test-flights.html

"The militaries of Australia and the U.S. have joined forces to
develop and test ultra-fast missiles based on hypersonic flight technology
designed to strike targets around the globe. The Hypersonic International
Flight Research Experimentation program, or HIFiRE, will explore propulsion
for hypersonic aircraft traveling at speeds greater than Mach 5 and will
run 10 test flights over the next five years.

Ultra-fast missiles designed to strike targets around the globe will be the
first technologies to use hypersonic flight, with early prototypes set to
begin flight tests this year.

The militaries of the U.S. and Australia are leading the development of the
high-speed technology. The recently signed $54 million agreement represents
one of the largest collaborations of its kind between the two nations,
according to the Air Force Research Laboratory. The U.S. Air Force Research
Lab and the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO)
are leading the effort, including coordination of research tasks to be
performed with NASA, U.S. industry, the Australian Hypersonics Consortium,
and the Hypersonics Research Group at the University of Queensland.

The projects include a test vehicle called the X-51A, run jointly by the
U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA), and a separate DARPA-led vehicle called Falcon. "

Good test bed for an autonomous drone.

Yet another mil program with possible civil "offsets"/spin offs.



Adam

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