SWITCH: Mobile | ePaper | Subscribe

Homes Rentals Jobs Autos Contests

Experimental

This Aug. 3, 2011 photo released by Vandenberg Air Force Base shows a Minotaur IV rocket standing beside Space Launch Complex-8 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. A hypersonic glider is scheduled for launch atop the Minotaur rocket, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011. The Hypersonic Test Vehicle-2 is an experiment in extremely high speed flight technologies by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force, Staff Sgt. Scottie McCord)

US hypersonic glider launched

Last updated Thursday, August 11, 2011 - 1:07pm

LOS ANGELES — An unmanned hypersonic glider developed for U.S. defense research into super-fast global strike capability was launched atop a rocket early Thursday but contact was lost after the experimental craft began flying on its own, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said.

There was no immediate information on how much of the mission’s goals were achieved.

Aircraft, Experimental, Hypersonic, Mach-20, National Read more Comments

Experimental Mach-20 aircraft set for launch

W.J. Hennigan Los Angeles Times

Last updated Tuesday, August 9, 2011 - 5:33pm

SANTA BARBARA -- An experimental, arrowhead-shaped aircraft that could reach speeds of 13,000 mph above the Pacific Ocean is set to blast off on a test flight Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa Barbara, Calif.

The flight is scheduled to test new technology that would provide the Pentagon with a vehicle capable of delivering a military strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour.

Aircraft, Experimental, Hypersonic, Mach-20, U.S. Air Force, Military, National Read more Comments