Hypersonic Scramjet Missile Aced Its Final Test, Beautifully
By Darren Orf
The U.S. Air Force successfully tested and concluded its Hypersonic Airbreathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile, a technology demonstrator.
- Hypersonic missiles are weapons capable of travelling at speeds of Mach 5 and beyond.
- The U.S. Air Force successfully tested and concluded its Hypersonic Airbreathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile, a technology demonstrator.
- The data from the flight will influence future hypersonic efforts throughout the U.S. military.
The future of aviation is hypersonic. The U.S. Air Force is hard at work on a next-gen hypersonic bomber, and even commercial aviation is looking for ways to push planes into Mach 5 and beyond. But the most pressing issue is to counter the world’s growing (and terrifying) chorus of hypersonic weapons.
Luckily, the Air Force just wrapped up a stunning final test of the scramjet-powered Hypersonic Airbreathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) missile, a program it calls the most successful of its kind in U.S. history.
On Monday, the Air Force and the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced that the weapon system successfully achieved Mach 5 flight and travelled 300 nautical miles at 60,000 feet. That’s an impressive feat, though the results don’t state exactly how long the missile achieved those hypersonic speeds.
