Within the next decade, you may be able to fly from London to NYC in just 1-hour aboard the new Airbus hypersonic jet, which was the US Patents and Trademark Office just approved. This Concorde 2.0 of sorts would soar the skies at a blistering Mach 4.5, or four and a half times the speed of sound (3000mph). “Two turbojets mounted under the fuselage would be used in conjunction with a rocket motor mounted at the rear so as to take off, and would ascend vertically – more in the manner of a space shuttle than an airplane. The turbojets would then shut down and retract into the fuselage, while the rocket engine would lift the aircraft to a cruising altitude of 100,000 feet. And that’s when it gets really curious; hydrogen-powered ramjets, which are more commonly used on missiles, would propel the jet to its cruising speed,” according to Inhabitat. Continue reading for a news report on the SR-72 hypersonic spy plane currently being developed by Lockheed Martin.
“Plans to build a new hypersonic stealth aircraft for the United States military have been announced by Lockheed Martin Corp. The SR-72 model aircraft might will be capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 6, and might be in the air by the year 2018. The SR-72 model aircraft will be capable of reaching speeds up to Mach 6, and a missile demonstrating the technology might be in the air by the year 2018 with the actual aircraft operational by 2030,” reports Geo Beats News.
