A ground-launched missile testbed has reached Mach 5.5 in the first flight test of a supersonic-combustion (scramjet)-powered vehicle using conventional hydrocarbon fuel. The vehicle was built by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) under the Freeflight Atmospheric Scramjet Test Technique (FASST) programme sponsored by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Office of Naval Research. After separating from its booster rocket at over 60,000ft (18,300m), the JP10-fuelled scramjet ignited and propelled the vehicle at 1,615m/s for 15s before splashing down.
Source: Flight International