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Nasa flew an unmanned experimental jet on Tuesday to a speed that was in excess of nine times the speed of sound - a world record. The X-43A - a supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) - was released on its test run from beneath a bomber's wing. The 3.7m-long aircraft had already set a world best for an "air breathing" jet of Mach 6.83 - nearly seven times the speed of sound - on a flight in March. Preliminary data confirming the success came through in real-time. Mach 10 is roughly 12,000km/h or 7,400mph. "This flight is a key milestone and...

EDWARDS AFB - Already holding the world speed record for an air-breathing engine, NASA's X-43A hypersonic research aircraft will aim to top itself with a flight to nearly 10 times the speed of sound next week. The unmanned aircraft's record-setting March flight to Mach 7 - about 5,000 mph - was the first flight test of a supersonic combustion ramjet - or scramjet - engine integrated with an airframe. "We set one (world record) in March, and we're going to do it again next week," said Vince Rauch, Hyper-X program manager at NASA's Langley Flight Research Center in Virginia. The...

A swift, powerful air strike can be an invaluable tool for U.S. military forces in battle, so long as it gets there fast enough, and the Department of Defense is developing just the aircraft for the job. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Air Force (USAF) are seeking contractors to build an unmanned hypersonic aircraft capable of reaching any point on the world map in about two hours. Though initially a creature of war, such an aircraft could eventually serve as a springboard into space, developing technology that could lead to a single-stage-to-orbit spacecraft. The...