i wonder how much Obama had to do with this:
US military loses contact with hypersonic aircraft
The HTV-2 is designed by engineers to travel at 13,000mph (21,000km/h)
US military scientists lost contact with an unmanned hypersonic experimental aircraft on its second test flight, officials said.
The Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) successfully
separated from its rocket but lost contact shortly into its "glide
phase".
The plane is designed to travel at Mach 20, or 20 times the speed of sound.
The Falcon project is part of the US defence department's plans to develop a rapid-strike weapons system.
A hypersonic plane could potentially enable the US military to hit targets anywhere in the world in under an hour.
Highly complex
The HTV-2 - shaped like the tip of a spear - took off atop a
Minotaur IV rocket from Vanderberg Air Force Base in California early on
Thursday.
It was propelled to the edges of space where it then separated from the rocket.
The aim by engineers was that it would glide back to Earth at
13,000mph (21,000km/h) - enduring temperatures in excess of 3,500F
(2,000C) - before plunging into the Pacific Ocean.