Force Application and Launch from Continental United States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Force Application and Launch from Continental United States, dubbed FALCON, is a joint project between United States Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The program aims to develop, possibly by the year 2025, a reusable rapid-strike Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV).

Currently, the project consists of the following intermediate phases:

X-41 Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) - a common aerial platform for hypersonic ICBMs and cruise missiles, as well as civilian RLVs and ELVs; flew in 2005
Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-1 (HTV-1) - a test concept, to fly in September 2007
HTV-2 - to fly in 2008
HTV-3 - to fly in 2009
Small Launch Vehicle (SLV) - a smaller engine to power CAVs, tests to begin by 2010

The HCV will be able to fly on altitudes of 30 to 50 km and achieve speeds of up to Mach 10 over projected range of 9000 nautical miles, with payload of 12000 pounds (5500 kg). It will be ready to launch within 2 hours.

Test flights are supported by NASA, the Space and Missile Systems Center, Lockheed Martin, Sandia National Laboratories and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Air Vehicles and Space Vehicles Directorates.