Out of the Black?

摘要

Darpa and the U.S. Air Force will fly Blackswift, a Mach 6+ demonstrator formerly dubbed HTV-3X, as early as 2012 under plans just released. The Blackswift announcement solicits industry responses by mid-April, and at the same time clears up much of the mystery over the future of the current hypersonic Falcon project under which the HTV-3X is being developed. The conceptual design for HTV-3X is set to be completed next month. Falcon-derived technology will be incorporated into the Blackswift air-breathing demonstrator that paves the way for a range of strike and reconnaissance vehicles, including a much-anticipated successor to the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.