A HYPERSONIC plane that can travel around the entire Earth in less than seven hours has made two successful test flights.
Talon-A2 reached an incredible 3,800mph while in flight – more than five times the speed of sound.
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The ground breaking flights were conducted in December 2024 and March 2025, the Pentagon’s Defence Department has revealed.
A simulation of a Talon-A2 flight shows the hypersonic drone being blasted into the sky by a carrier jet before zooming off.
Talon-A2 was launched from the world’s biggest plane, Roc.
The giant carrier plane holds the record for the largest wingspan – coming in at a whopping 385-feet.
Once in the sky the hypersonic drone was released over the Pacific Ocean before later landing at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
During its flight Talon-A2 reached a jaw-dropping speed of 3,800 mph – which is more than five times the speed of sound.
But it’s no surprise it can travel so quickly as the vehicle is powered by a hefty 5,000lb-thrust rocket engine.
Talon-A2 is operated by Stratolaunch – a company founded in 2011 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen – as part of a Pentagon Defense Department initiative.
The historic flights mark the first time the US has conducted reusable hypersonic testing since its X-15 programme.
The X-15 programme was a collaboration with NASA, the US Air Force and the Navy.
The programme operated for nearly 10 years – setting a record speed of 5,100mph – before it was terminated in 1968.
This comes as the US has ramped up its hypersonic weapons research as tensions with China and Russia reach boiling point.
Meanwhile, a hypersonic passenger jet which could take travelers from London to New York City in just one hour is set to arrive as “as soon as the 2030s”.
The Venus Stargazer is being developed by Venus Aerospace who revealed that it was planning a flight demo “later this summer”.
The company said that thanks to a Nasa-funded breakthrough, the “record-setting” engine system is nearly ready to try out for real.
Venus hopes that its rocket engine will be able to blast passengers around the Earth in record time.
“Stargazer M4 is Earth’s first hypersonic, reusable aircraft,” Venus Aerospace boasted.
“No one has ever built a hypersonic platform that makes two-hour global transport cost-effective. Until now.
“Our flagship product, Stargazer, will ascend from a central airport using advanced propulsion systems.
“Our vehicle will accelerate from taxi to cruise speeds of Mach 4 at 110,000 feet with a top speed capable of Mach 9.”
The engine is set to feature a new Nasa-funded nozzle design. That’s the part of the rocket that “shapes and directs power“.
This hi-tech nozzle will reportedly allow for speeds exceeding Mach 5 – or about 3,800mph.
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