The Global Hypersonic Race

... Earth’s orbit. In light of the above, the emergence of hypersonic weapons will introduce a number of destabilizing factors for international security. First, countries possessing such weapons will have an asymmetric advantage over other developing countries.... ... turbine-based combined-cycle engine capable of accelerating a vehicle to Mach 6. United States As part of the High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW) program, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Air Force are working on three hypersonic ...