As the world seemingly marches closer to global conflict, hypersonic aircraft and missiles are being developed and tested by the United States, Russia and China at an accelerating pace. Other, less belligerent nations are developing hypersonic technologies to a lesser degree. According to Rand Corporation, “France and India are the most committed, and both draw to some extent on cooperation with Russia.” Nevertheless, “Australia, Japan, and European entities” have hypersonic programs in early stages.
In any case, the race for hypersonic technologies is in full swing among global superpowers, who realize that the first to possess these technologies will revolutionize their civilian aerospace and military programs. However, as of January 2018, hypersonic technologies are still in development and or the testing phase, so it remains anyone’s game at this point.
As reported previously, Lockheed Martin is understood to be working on a state-of-the-art hypersonic spy plane for the US Air Force, which could reach over 4,600mph. Which leads us an unidentified airport and testing grounds hidden in the swamplands of South Florida, some 24-miles inland on Bee-Line Highway, outside West Palm Beach or President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, where Google Earth images have surfaced of an object bearing a startling similarity to artist’s impressions of the plane.
While zooming into the facility, Google Earth reveals perhaps more than the public should see; a mysterious aircraft which resembles public renderings of a hypersonic aircraft.
According to Tyler Glockner, the area belongs to an aerospace company that has a “main foothold in designing aircraft engines that are widely used in civilian and military aviation”.
In the picture below, a truck is towing the mysterious aircraft from a large rectangular white building to the white concrete pad. One of two things are possible: Prepping for an engine test on the concrete pad; Prepping for a flight using the runway
Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation are located just a stone’s throw away from the airbase housing the mysterious aircraft. Interesting to note, Pratt & Whitney manufactures the scramjet engine for the X-51A WaveRider hypersonic vehicle.
Below are the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) family of Falcon-Hypersonic aircraft that are comparable in shape to the mysterious aircraft noted above.
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