Hypersonic Flight: Attempts by world powers to fly at 4,000 miles per hour

A British company called Reaction Engines is building high-speed engines, so fast that the engines of existing jet planes melt while flying at this speed. The company wants to reach hypersonic speeds that are about five times the speed of sound, about 4,000 miles per hour. They are working to build a high-speed passenger plane by the 2030s.

At that speed, you can reach Sydney in four hours from London or Los Angeles in two hours from Tokyo. Experiments with hypersonic flight began with the US X-15 in the 1960s. Military spending from China, the United States, and Russia is driving hypersonic flight.
Mike White, deputy director of hypersonics at the U.S. military, told a recent news conference at the Pentagon that progress was being made because of “attempts by our great rivals to challenge our dominance.”

China’s mere presence of hypersonic weapons may force US aircraft carriers to stay away from Chinese borders.