The designers of the US Department of Defense are preparing for testing a secret aircraft capable of 20 times the speed of sound. As it became known, the second flight of the Falcon HTV-2 stratospheric bomber should take place in the near future.
This experimental superweapon of the Pentagon is an ultra-fast aircraft designed to fly in the Earth's upper atmosphere. Due to the fact that the air at these altitudes is rarefied, the device can reach speeds of about 13 thousand miles per hour and be used for the urgent delivery of military supplies - missiles and bombs - to enemy positions.
According to The Washington Times, the Falcon HTV-2 is planned to be used for emergency bombing of terrorist bases or territories of rogue states that own nuclear weapons.
The flight of a supersonic bomber consists of two phases. First, the launch vehicle takes it into the upper atmosphere in much the same way as the American shuttles are launched into orbit. Then the bomber goes into level flight and heads towards its target. For the development of this device, the American military-technical agency DARPA received $ 308 million.
It is worth noting that the first flight of the stratospheric monster took place this spring. The prototype got off the ground with the help of the Minotaur carrier, flew some distance and drowned in the ocean. As representatives of the Pentagon explained, the death of the experimental device is explained by the program embedded in its on-board autopilot computer. After the bomber's "brain" realized that it was no longer able to control the rotation, he gave the order to interrupt the flight and sent the Falcon into the water.
