Falcon HTV-2 Hypersonic Plane Loses Control in Mach 20 Test Defense department tests drone to fly at 13,000 mph.

DARPA has confirmed the splash down of its unmanned Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2) following the hypersonic vehicle's second test flight on August 11.

The Falcon program aims to develop and demonstrate hypersonic technologies for prompt use in global reach missions and the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) forms part of this quest ...

DARPA launched the arrowhead-shaped HTV-2 flight on Aug. 11 in the second of two tests of a prototype for a hypersonic glider as part of the advanced Conventional Prompt Global Strike weapons ...

HTV-2 was traveling at Mach 20–that’s 20 times the speed of sound–when an as-yet unexplained flight anomaly caused the vehicle’s automated systems to kick in and put the thing into a ...

Update: DARPA has gone silent regarding HTV-2, but its safe to assume at this point that contact with the hypersonic Falcon vehicle was lost before it fulfilled all of its mission objectives. No ...

A technology demonstration and data-gathering platform, the HTV-2’s second test flight was conducted to validate current models and increase technical understanding of the hypersonic regime.