World’s fastest glider plunges into ocean on test flight

AN unmanned hypersonic glider developed to test technologies needed for a new global strike bomber concept and designed to fly at 13,000 miles an hour plunged into the ocean after contact was lost when the experimental craft began flying on its own.

At its Mach 20 speed, it could travel from New York to Los Angeles in less than 12 minutes, and friction with the air can heat it up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

The HTV-2 is part of a Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plan called Prompt Global Strike. If testing is successful, it could be used as an advanced weapons system whose incredible speed makes it capable of knocking out any target in the world within an hour of launch.

In a statement, the agency said the aircraft successfully made the transition to Mach 20 aerodynamic flight and “more than nine minutes of data was collected before an anomaly caused loss of signal.”

It was the second of two planned flights of a Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2. Contact was also lost during the first mission.

The small craft is part of a US military initiative to develop technology to respond to threats at 20 times the speed of sound or greater, reaching any part of the globe in an hour.

The HTV-2 is designed to be launched to the edge of space, separate from its booster and manoeuvre through the atmosphere at 13,000mph before intentionally crashing into the ocean.

DARPA said the launch of the Minotaur 4 rocket was successful and separation was confirmed. It next reported on Twitter that telemetry had been lost.

The HTV-2 is intended to put theory, simulations and wind-tunnel experience to the test in real flight conditions at speeds producing temperatures in the thousands of degrees and requiring extremely fast control systems, the agency states.