Posted on 04/21/2012 8:17:26 PM PDT by LibWhacker
The results are in from last summer’s attempt to test new technology that would provide the Pentagon with a lightning-fast vehicle, capable of delivering a military strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour.
In August the Pentagon's research arm, known as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, carried out a test flight of an experimental aircraft capable of traveling at 20 times the speed of sound.
The arrowhead-shaped unmanned aircraft, dubbed Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Santa Barbara, into the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere aboard an eight-story Minotaur IV rocket made by Orbital Sciences Corp.
After reaching an undisclosed altitude, the aircraft jettisoned from its protective cover atop the rocket, then nose-dived back toward Earth, leveled out and glided above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Now I will wait for the fools to come and claim that the nation of slaves, China, is not only catching us in military technology but ahead of us...LOL...
Why would they have to catch us when administrations like the Clintons and Obamas give them our technology?
It’s Aurora! LOL
A hypersonic glider. Pretty cool.
Clinton supporters Loral had an accident in China that resulted in the “loss” of a guidance chip.
Clinton took money from the daughter of a chinese general.
No one cares, dancing with the stars in on and Republicans are racist anyway.
sigh...
Buy American.
So it stays that way.
Soooo...
How soon can we expect to launch one to Iran, and Syria, and Egypt, and Afghanistan, and....
Well that explains the mysterious vapor trails off the California coast that was in the news last year
I wouldn't laugh. We know from long experience that our military's development curve is always decades ahead of the state of the art.
Allow yourself to dream 20 years into the future, and that's the hardware they've got right now.
Oh stop the stupid conspiracy theory... Tell me please how can the President give technologies to a nation without being exposed?
Exactly and we shall keep it as such...
Bump for American dominance of the skies.
This is terrifically exciting technology. $300M since 2003? Chump change of the DoD budget, especially compared to its potential.
Amen...USA!
Oh, I don't know... one way might be to transfer oversight of dual-use technology from the State Dept. to the Commerce Dept. like Bill Clinton did in '96, with this result:
According to the GAO, "vulnerabilities in the Dept. of Commerce's deemed export control system could help China and other countries of concern improve their military capabilities.""...in fiscal year 2001 China accounted for over 70% of the 822 export licenses approved by the Commerce Department."
GAO-Commerce Exports Could Help Chinese Military
It probably is just a zany conspiracy theory after all...
Only an idiot would deny that it happened.
Given that we seem intent on destroying ourselves, the PRC won’t need to do anything special to surpass us in the long run.
The Communist Chinese know that JPL is open for business.
They intend to be well paid for fronting the US this ‘loan.’
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.