DARPA's HTV-2 hypersonic test vehicle crashed due to materials being worn off the airframe as a faster rate than predicted. But on the good news side, the aircraft proved to be more controllable than the engineers had expected. The DARPA study is being used to inform the US Defense Department's on-going Conventional Prompt Global Strike efforts--which would hit a target anywhere on Earth in under an hour.
That being said, an operational weapon could potentially run
into the billions of dollars per shot given the cost of developing and fielding
even a small number of such systems. And, of course, there is the alternative
of a conventionally-tipped ICBM, but that could be mistaken for an actual
nuclear missile by other powers--which would be bad. And still pretty expensive
probably...
So, is it worth the time, effort and money? Discuss.
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