An F-15E launched a hypersonic missile demonstrator, dubbed HyFly, which cleanly separated, then successfully ignited its solid rocket booster, reaching a speed greater than Mach 3, as part of a hypersonics test program run by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Boeing, states a company news release. The partnership hopes to use the HyFly program to mature the dual combustion ramjet hypersonic missile concept, eventually enabling a missile that is compatible with Air Force platforms as well as Navy aircraft and vessels.
Advancements in commercial space technology could make President Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense network far more likely to succeed than the failed “Star Wars” strategic umbrella initiative of the 1980s, U.S. Space Command’s top general said May 22....