AUSTRALIAN and US defence scientists have conducted the first successful test flight of a hypersonic aircraft in the HIFiRE program, at the Woomera testing range in South Australia. The series of 10 hypersonic flight experiments are designated as the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE), and are being carried out by the Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation and the US Air Force.
The test vehicle was launched on a rocket from Woomera and carried 200km into the atmospherefrom where released it was released. The vehicle dived back into the atmosphere at high speed to test the hypersonic flight technology.
