Falcon hypersonic technology vehicle (HTV)

Global Security Newswire reports that defense officials are close to finishing their investigation into the failure of the HTV-2 hypersonic vehicle on April 22:

A Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency review board “is in the last phases of its internal review” of the Hypersonic Test Vehicle-2’s maiden flight test and should report out in “the next month or so,” Zachary Lemnios said at a breakfast session with reporters this morning. “When that review board finishes their work, we’ll come out with a statement on exactly what’s happened.”

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Falcon hypersonic technology vehicle (HTV)

DARPA is set to launch its maneuverable, hypersonic Falcon HTV-2 test vehicle out of Vandenberg Air Force Base on Tuesday. The Lockheed Martin built vehicle — designed to fly at speeds of Mach 20 and above — will be launched aboard a Minotaur Lite rocket. It is set to fly about 4,100 nautical miles across the Pacific in less then 30 minutes before impacting in the ocean north of the Kwajalein Atoll. The goal of the project is to design weapons that will allow the U.S. to quickly respond to threats.

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