The Pentagon on
Thursday held a successful test flight of a
flying bomb that travels faster than the speed
of sound and will give military planners the
ability to strike targets anywhere in the world
in less than a hour.
Launched by
rocket from Hawaii at 1130 GMT, the "Advanced
Hypersonic Weapon," or AHW, glided through the
upper atmosphere over the Pacific "at
hypersonic speed" before hitting its target on
the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands, a
Pentagon statement said.
Kwajalein is
about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers)
southwest of Hawaii. The Pentagon did not
say what top speeds were reached by the
vehicle, which unlike a ballistic missile is
maneuverable.
Scientists
classify hypersonic speeds as those that
exceed Mach 5 -- or five times the speed
of sound -- 3,728 miles (6,000 kilometers)
an hour.