Britain's Telegraph newspaper reports on a massive American initiative to develop new forms of space warfare.
The most ambitious project in a new $459 billion (£221.5 billion) defence spending Bill is the Falcon, a reusable "hypersonic vehicle" that could fly at six times the speed of sound and deliver 12,000lb of bombs anywhere in the world within minutes.
The bombs' destructive power would be multiplied by the Earth's gravitational pull as they travelled at up to 25 times the speed of sound towards their target.
The bombs' destructive power would be multiplied by the Earth's gravitational pull as they travelled at up to 25 times the speed of sound towards their target.
The cost of the vehicle has not been revealed, but a spokesman for the Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) said a first test flight was scheduled for next year.
Congress awarded $150 million for the Falcon project and its associated "prompt global strike" programme. A defence industry source said it was likely that hundreds of millions more were being spent on space warfare "away from the public view".
The "global strike" platform would give America the "forward presence" it requires around the world without the need for bases outside the US.
So, the quest is on for the new "ultimate" weapon. Funny how we keep believing we can actually do that, decade after decade. It never works, not for long at least. By the way, how is that hunt for Osama bin Laden going?
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