Mach 20 missile, Americas hit anything on earth within an hour ace card.

[TruthSeeker]

The Air Force shuttle's secret mission: 5 theories

The X-37B spacecraft's "classified" mission is a real mystery. Will it launch spy satellites? A secret space weapon?

posted on March 4, 2011, at 5:28 PM

The Air Force launches the X-37B Friday on a mission so mysterious that some expert observers are hesitant to even hazard a guess.

The U.S. Air Force launched an unmanned shuttle into space on Friday afternoon — but its exact mission remains a mystery. The 29-foot X-37B resembles a miniature version of the space shuttle, and will complete a "classified mission" before landing in California later this year. An earlier version of the X-37B spent 224 days in orbit last year. Both were funded by the Pentagon's top-secret "black" budget. What could the spacecraft be doing up there? Here, five theories:

1. Testing or launching spy satellites
Amateur astronomers who studied the earlier incarnation of the X-37B theorize that the craft is testing sensors for a new generation of secret spy satellites. The military craft, the stargazers told The New York Times, repeatedly passes over the same region — a "common feature of U.S. imaging reconnaisance satellites." Tellingly, the aircraft's "payload bay is the size of a small pickup truck bed," which suggests that it could be used to deploy or capture small satellites.

2. Taking out "enemy" satellites... with spraypaint
Some speculate that the spacecraft could contain technology to put rival countries' satellites out of orbit, or destroy them completely. "Simply by spraying a satellite black, you can put it out of action because it will overheat very quickly," says defense journalist Bill Sweetman, as quoted in TechNewsWorld. If the shuttle contained some kind of remote-controlled spraypaint machine, it could easily destroy "enemy" satellites. "Not to sound too conspiratorial," says Sweetman, "but once the satellite went down, it would look like an accidental failure."

3. Dropping "Rods from God" on enemy targets
Such a reusable space plane offers the U.S. "unheard-of" potential for quick, surprise launches, says Space.com. It could be fitted with a "weapon to drop tungsten rods," nicknamed "Rods from God," on targets back on earth. The Chinese military apparently fears this scenario, adds the Los Angeles Times. Chinese professor Li Daguang wrote that the X-37B would soon be "capable of taking military actions" against the enemies of the U.S.

The Air Force shuttle's secret mission: 5 theories - The Week

 

[yousaf goebbels]

this gets launched from my back yard and is knocking at your door in 25 mins

then what??i still get to incur 6 digit $$$ loss on your economy while going to disneyland....we are 180 million....how many times will you knock?

 

[PERSIAN GOD KING]

The satan missile travels faster than mach 20..so what? how much will it cost them lol? they are banckrupt

 

[Zabaniyah]

The satan missile travels faster than mach 20..so what? how much will it cost them lol? they are banckrupt

But they are sooo cool

 

[StormShadow]

then what??i still get to incur 6 digit $$$ loss on your economy while going to disneyland....we are 180 million....how many times will you knock?

The satan missile travels faster than mach 20..so what? how much will it cost them lol? they are banckrupt

LOL!! Who told US's gonna go bankrupt? It's just going through a hard phase. Our countries have been there and came out successfully. What makes you think US cannot?
And BTW..cant a bankrupt nation's missile hit targets and destroy?

 

[VelocuR]

more borrow from China, more projects to increase debt. That's good signs

 

[kobiraaz]

oh! Columbus what have you done!!

 

[Splurgenxs]

The satan missile travels faster than mach 20..so what? how much will it cost them lol? they are bankrupt

Bankruptcy is a term the zealous use as if the end of all things.

India was bankrupt in 1992.

After all the US is an economy of 14 trillion/annum . It isn't dead

they should concentrate on savings i kno; but
im sure the cost of this project would be chump change when compared to the bailouts that were handed out during recession.

it would be un-wise to corner America when its down. The only danger to america is it lousy governance.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

more borrow from China, more projects to increase debt. That's good signs

This will end up same as their naval laser weapon and railgun.

 

[Swatwolf]

They are strapping drones to their launchers instead of warheads, it will be another fancier one way trip type missions even if it's carrying munitions and the cost to launch one of these babies i would assume is in the range of at least 50-100 million when realized, the boosters alone could be worth that much i assume? Unless they have some super intelligent drones that could perform all the duty of a fighter Jet and that could hit their target and fly all the way back to base, it's nothing more than a fancy warhead. Makes no economic sense at all to even contemplate this sort of technology when you could just strap a warhead to a missile., but then again the F-22 makes no economic sense at all but it happened anyways.

 

[Don Jaguar]

Pentagon’s Mach 20 Missile Lost Over Pacific — Again

For the second time in a row, the Pentagon has lost contact with an experimental hypersonic vehicle over the Pacific, just minutes after it was launched from space.

The flight of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 was hotly anticipated in military and aerospace circles. The HTV-2 was supposed to ride on the back of a rocket to the edge of space, where it would separate and scream through the atmosphere at 13,000 mph before splashing into the Pacific Ocean, about 4,100 miles and 30 minutes later.

If the flight worked, it’d show how missiles of this shape and flight pattern could strike targets halfway around the world almost instantly. And that would be a major step forward in the Pentagon’s “Prompt Global Strike” plan to attack foes anywhere on the globe in less than an hour. For now, however, those hopes have been dashed.

“There’s no way you can call it a success. Let’s be blunt about it,” a source familiar with the program tells Danger Room.

In a statement, Darpa tried to put a positive shine on the day’s events. The Minotaur IV rocket “successfully inserted the aircraft into the desired trajectory,” the agency noted. The HTV-2 “transitioned to Mach 20 aerodynamic flight,” and that “more than nine minutes of data was collected before an anomaly caused loss of signal.”

“We’ll learn. We’ll try again. That’s what it takes,” Darpa director Regina Dugan added.

But that may be easier said than done. Before the test, Darpa announced that this would be the last HTV-2 flight that the agency would run. The idea was to transfer control of the program to another branch of the military, most likely the Air Force. Those other branches may not be willing to take on such an expensive program that hasn’t shown much forward momentum, as of yet.

The first flight of the HTV-2 ended abruptly in April, 2010 after Defense Department monitors lost touch with the aircraft after nine minutes in the air. Months of intensive wind tunnel testing followed, and the flight path of the wedge-shaped carbon composite aircraft was altered, to keep it aloft for longer. But, if the initial estimates are accurate, the second test didn’t last much longer than the first.

“Yes, we got this wonderful data set from the two flights. Yes, you can cross-reference it with the wind tunnel data,” the source familiar with HTV-2 says. “Whether that’s worth $308 million, I’m not so sure.”

Darpa fueled the anticipation for the launch for months. Dugan talked up HTV-2 at technology conferences. In an unusual move for the sometimes-secretive agency, Darpa live-tweeted the countdown (doubling its number of followers in less than a week).

“T-16 minutes: ‘ALL STATIONS REPORT GO‘” read one tweet. A stream of upbeat messages followed about the vehicle’s progress over the next hour.

Then, suddenly, came word that things were going wrong.

“Range assets have lost telemetry with #HTV2. More to follow.”

The Pentagon may now turn to other technologies for its “Prompt Global Strike” mission: perhaps nuclear missiles, repurposed with conventional warheads; perhaps next-gen cruise missiles that fly six times the speed of sound. Or maybe, despite the HTV-2 second premature splashdown, the Mach 20 missile effort may continue.

“We know how to boost the aircraft to near space. We know how to insert the aircraft into atmospheric hypersonic flight. We do not yet know how to achieve the desired control during the aerodynamic phase of flight,” Darpa program manager Maj. Chris Schulz said in a statement. “It’s vexing; I’m confident there is a solution. We have to find it.”

Pentagon’s Mach 20 Missile Lost Over Pacific — Again | Danger Room | Wired.com

 

[Mujraparty]

 

[siegecrossbow]

If the warhead could reenter at MACH 20 it is probably uninterceptable in its terminal stage. Mid or boost stage interception are the only options. Since the warheads are most likely launched from American bases, however, boost stage interception is very unlikely. That leaves mid-stage interception as the only viable countermeasure to this weapon.

 

[khurasaan1]

If the warhead could reenter at MACH 20 it is probably uninterceptable in its terminal stage. Mid or boost stage interception are the only options. Since the warheads are most likely launched from American bases, however, boost stage interception is very unlikely. That leaves mid-stage interception as the only viable countermeasure to this weapon.

Or nip the evil in the bud.....
all countries shold join handz and destrroy these weapons at the launch sites......so US cant pose any threat.....to anybody in the world.....Insha-Allah....

 

[yousaf goebbels]

let them make these fancy missiles and let us move all our military infrastructure(command and control) deep deep underground and in tunnels...hell we can even build underground airbases

.who cares what hits empty patch of land at mach 20 or 200