The Global Hypersonic Race

... world airspeed record of Mach 6.72 in 1967) Unmanned vehicles (mainly experimental projects such as the Boeing X-43, which reached Mach 9.6 in 2004) Scramjet-powered hypersonic missiles (such as the Russian 3M22 Zircon) Hypersonic glide vehicles (the Russian Avangard or the U.S. Advanced Hypersonic Weapon) Air- or ground-launched spaceplanes (the Soviet Buran and U.S. Space Shuttle vehicles, which reach speeds of Mach 25 upon re-entry). Military hypersonic vehicles fall into the following three categories: ...