The US Air Force, in collaboration with the country's Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), is reportedly working on a project to test a new hypersonic flight.
The experimental program aims to advance research on hypersonic flight, building upon the knowledge gained from the Air Force's 300 million dollar X-51A Waverider programme, which began in 2004.
The unmanned X-51A successfully completed the programme's final flight on May 1, reaching a top speed of Mach 5.1, more than five times the speed of sound and traveling more than 230 nautical miles in just over 6 minutes before its planned crash-landing in the Pacific Ocean, Fox News reports.
Air Force Chief Scientist Mica Endsley said that the programme between the US Air Force and DARPA will include designing based on the results of the X-51A apart from examining ways to bring hypersonic technology closer to operation.
US military officials have earlier said that the hypersonic technology could be used to develop new weapons and planes capable of reaching targets anywhere on Earth within short periods of time.
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