Setting aside hypersonic flight, Boeing’s Darryl Davis says a supersonic platform is well within the realm of the possible by 2018. However, a supersonic, intercontinental platform would probably weigh two to 2.5 times as much as a subsonic platform, Davis noted. In aircraft, weight usually equates to cost. Davis said Boeing is looking at hybrid concepts of motherships and drones, or standoff sensors coupled with passive penetrators.
Officials at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., said the range is “fully mission capable” to support launches following a major May 28 mishap involving Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.