A really interesting story from Flight Global. How fast should the next US bomber fly? Could a high-speed missile do the same job? US research into high-Mach vehicles is seeking the answers

US hypersonics research is not dead, just headed in a different direction. The military need for long-range strike is adding impetus to research into high-speed aircraft and missiles, but there is debate over how fast the next US bomber needs to fly.

Boosted by the Mach 9.7 flight of the X-43A Hyper-X demonstrator in November 2004, hypersonic hopes plunged soon after when NASA terminated its pursuit of air-breathing reusable launch vehicles to focus instead on a low-risk rocket-and-capsule architecture for space exploration.

Taking the vanguard in the vacuum that ensued, several projects have kept US high-Mach research alive, but with a distinctly military intent. Where NASA was looking decades ahead at a successor to the Space Shuttle, today's research has "off ramps" that could produce practical near-term applications.

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