@Render
Would you please share what's *actually confirmed* about the SR-72 / Darkstar? YouTube is rife with analysis videos, and even I know enough to say that most of what they are reporting is BS.
@voltronic @Render wait--as in a successor to the SR-71 blackbird spy plane?
Yes.
There is a guess version of it available in the CMANO simulator.
There it does as claimed, but is can still be intercepted by some "enemy" SAM systems.
@Render
China has the only viable hypersonic missle tech at this point, yes? I remember Russia's top speed figures were found to be greatly exaggerated; nowhere near Mach 5.
There's no way such missiles could be launched from a SAM array by themselves, unless I'm missing something. They would have to piggyback on another vehicle to reach a speed where the scramjet could function.
@voltronic @rpardee
There are a whole bunch of hypersonic projects in development or testing by several nations.
Almost all of these (outside of the US) are glide vehicles. Mounted on the nose of an ICBM and gliding in from outside of the atmosphere.
The US has at least 3 air launched hypersonic missile projects in development. Outside of the USAF/USN AIM-260 JATM air-to-air missile (pending replacement for the AIM-120 series) I'm not sure how far along any of those projects are.