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hypersonic

World’s Biggest Plane to Launch Hypersonic Vehicles

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Talon A

Stratolaunch has found another use for the biggest airplane ever built. The company, which Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen established in 2011, originally planned to launch satellites using the aircraft, which has a wingspan of 385 feet (117 meters). But Allen died in October 2018 and Stratolaunch was sold last year, raising questions about the company’s future. Some of those questions have now been answered. Stratolaunch’s website now reveals that the company has reinvented itself as a builder, tester and operator of hypersonic vehicles — those that can travel at least five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5. “Our … Read more

TECH: US Air Force Enters the Hypersonic Weapons Race

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hypersonic weapons

The arms race is picking up considerable speed, and the United States doesn’t want to get left behind. Over the past four months, the U.S. Air Force has awarded two contracts for hypersonic weapons worth a maximum of $1.4 billion to aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. The first contract, announced in April, awards $928 million to develop something called the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon (HCSW). And last week, the Air Force disclosed another deal, worth up to $480 million, to begin designing the Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW). “We are going to go fast and leverage the best technology available to … Read more

More Tech to Fear – Hypersonic Nukes

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nuke - pixabay

China successfully tested a hypersonic aircraft on Friday (Aug. 3), one that could one day be capable of firing nuclear missiles around the planet at up to six times the speed of sound, according to China’s state-run news site China Daily. The aircraft, known as Starry Sky-2, is reportedly capable of screaming across the sky at speeds of up to 4,563 mph (7,344 km/h) and rapidly switching direction mid-flight, China Daily reported, potentially allowing the rocket to blast right past existing missile defense systems. Video of the Starry Sky-2 test launch (which was conducted in an undisclosed location in northwestern … Read more