---
title: "Hypersonic Travel May Become a Reality Sooner Than You Think"
description: "New developments in hypersonic research at Lockheed Martin may accelerate the timeline in which such technology may become commercially available."
date: "2016-03-29"
modified: "2016-03-29"
authors:
  - name: "Todd Jaquith"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/todd-jaquith"
url: "https://futurism.com/hypersonic-travel-may-become-reality-sooner-think"
categories:
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "HAWC"
  - "hypersonic missile"
  - "hypersonic plane"
  - "lockheed martin"
  - "military"
  - "SR-72"
---

# Hypersonic Travel May Become a Reality Sooner Than You Think

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/960-lockheed-martin-corporation-to-build-supersonic-plane-xplane-for-nasa.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Lockheed Martin\</em\>*

## Mach 5 and Beyond

Lockheed Martin’s famous SR-71 Blackbird, a high-speed, high-altitude surveillance plane capable of reaching speeds in excess of Mach 3, is practically the poster child for supersonic vehicles.

But now, with concepts such as the [SR-72](<https://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/features/2015/sr-72.html>), the company hopes to pioneer aircraft capable of [hypersonic speeds](<http://futurism.com/20027/>)—Mach 5 and above. Most of the development in this direction has focused on unmanned vehicles—drones eventually, [but mainly cruise-type missiles](<http://futurism.com/hypersonic-missiles-may-reality-next-decade/>) capable of evading detection and countermeasures through sheer unmatchable speed.

[![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/1400596153102-1.jpg>)](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/1400596153102-1.jpg>)
*The SR-72 concept. Credit: Lockheed Martin*

But while such developments are mainly of a military character, research by Lockheed Martin to develop manned hypersonic aircraft could yield benefits for the commercial and civilian sectors.

[Lockheed Martin’s CEO Marilyn Hewson remarked](<http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/air-space/2016/03/16/lockheeds-marilyn-hewson-touts-breakthroughs-hypersonic-weapons/81836070/>), at the company’s “media day” on March 15, “Lockheed Martin has a legacy of making fast aircraft. We are now producing a controllable, low-drag, aerodynamic configuration capable of stable operations from takeoff to subsonic, transonic, supersonic and hypersonic, to Mach 6.”The company hopes to test a proof-of-concept hypersonic vehicle, about the size of an F-22 fighter, for less than $1 billion by 2018.

## Getting From Here to There

The hypersonic vehicle, moreover, is expected to have a pretty sophisticated engine system; most designs, such as the [HAWC](<http://www.darpa.mil/program/hypersonic-air-breathing-weapon-concept>) concept, envisions using a rocket-type booster to reach a sufficient altitude, whereupon a “scramjet” engine will take over, sucking in oxygen to boost the aircraft to sustained hypersonic speeds.

[![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/1400599103878.jpg>)](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/1400599103878.jpg>)
*Illustration of the "turbine-based combined cycle propulsion" concept. Credit: Lockheed Martin*

But the test aircraft, like the SR-72, will do away with cumbersome, spacecraft-like stages. Instead, it uses what is called “turbine-based combined cycle propulsion”—a system in which a conventional, off-the-shelf turbine engine propels the vehicle from takeoff to about Mach 3, where a ramjet takes over to accelerate the craft to Mach 5 and above.

Weapons are likely to be the prime focus in the next decade, but if the SR-72 really does reach service by 2030 (its target date), we could see the application of that technology to civilian purpose shortly thereafter. So, we eagerly await developments.

### Author social links  
[Facebook](<https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010429595677>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-jaquith-b5aaa7127>)