At Mach 20, is the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 a faster 'Aurora'?
This image, taken over the North Sea in 1989 by oil-rigger Chris Gibson, is claimed to be of the "Aurora"
spy plane / http://tinyurl.com/2a2uq3n
Source: news.com.au
- US tests hypersonic technology
- Uses soundwaves for acceleration
- "Falcon" may be legendary "Aurora"
IT'S been a watershed week for conspiracy theorists, with US President Barack Obama throwing his support behind several major upgrades to his country's rapid-response strike capability.
On the heels of last week's top-secret X37-B launch, it has now been revealed that the US Air Force at the same time launched an experimental hypersonic glider able to travel more than 6500km in 30
minutes from launch.
And overnight, Mr Obama announced he would support deploying a new class of hypersonic missiles that could hit any target on Earth within an hour.
Some official details of the technology behind both developments have military-watchers online claiming it as proof of the existence of the near-legendary "Aurora"
project.
In the real world, it's called the "Prompt Global Strike (PGS) program" and it's actually part of the President's solution to maintaining peace in non-nuclear times.
Mr Obama signed a treaty with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev last week that put both countries on the path to full nucleardisarmament.
However, the US part of the agreement states that the US can replace every decommissioned nuclear weapon with a PGS missile.
Within a week of the treaty being signed, Mr Obama welcomed in the technology to make it possible.
The hypersonic guided missiles can reach speeds of 5800km/h, more than seven times faster than the Tomahawk guided missiles that were too slow to kill Osama bin Laden at an
Afghanistan training camp in 1998.
The White House has requested almost $US250 million for research into hypersonic technologies which harness shock waves generated by a fast-moving missile to increase its
speed further.
Last week, while the world watched the launch of the X37-B, the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base said a Minotaur IV rocket carrying a hypersonic glider blasted off from the
central California coast.
The Air Force statement did not reveal the result of the test involving the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2.
Conspiracy theorists have long been reporting on the existence of a secret project known as "Aurora" - a hypersonic spy plane capable of speeds
up to Mach 6 (6000km/h).
The Falcon is capable of much, much more, according to a Falcon fact sheet from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Once the vehicle had accelerated into the upper atmosphere, it would separate from its booster and glide across the Pacific at around
21,000km/h.
The test vehicle launched last week was to crash into the sea and sink near Kwajalein Atoll, 3300km south-west of Hawaii, 30 minutes later and 6500km from the launch site.
It would not be recovered, the Air Force said.
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