DARPA Falcon Project The DARPA Falcon Project ( Force Application and Launch from CONtinental United States ) is a two - part joint project between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ( DARPA ) and the United States Air Force ( USAF ) and is part of Prompt Global Strike . One part of the program aims to develop a reusable , rapid - strike " Hypersonic Weapon System " ( HWS ) , now retitled the " Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle " ( HCV ) , and the other is for the development of a launch system capable of accelerating an HCV to cruise speeds , as well as launching small satellites into earth orbit . This two - part program was announced in 2003 and continued into 2006 . The latest project to be announced under the Falcon banner was a fighter - sized unmanned aircraft called " Blackswift " which would take off from a runway and accelerate to Mach 6 before completing its mission and landing again . The memo of understanding between DARPA and the USAF on Blackswift — also known as the HTV - 3X — was signed in September 2007 . The Blackswift HTV - 3X did not receive needed funding and was canceled in October 2008 . Current research under FALCON program is centered on X - 41 Common Aero Vehicle ( CAV ) , a common aerial platform for hypersonic ICBM s and cruise missile s , as well as civilian RLV s and ELV s . The prototype Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 ( HTV - 2 ) first flew on 22 April 2010 ; the second test flew 11 August 2011 . Both flights ended prematurely . Design and development . Past projects . The aim was always to be able to deploy a craft from the continental United States , which could reach anywhere on the planet within one to two hours . The X - 20 Dyna - Soar in 1957 was the first publicly acknowledged program — although this would have been launched vertically on a rocket and then glided back to Earth , as the Space Shuttle does , rather than taking off from a runway . Originally , the Shuttle was envisaged as a part - USAF operation , and separate military launch facilities were built at Vandenberg AFB at great cost , though never used . After the open DynaSoar USAF program from 1957 – 1963 , spaceplanes went black . In the mid - 1960s , the CIA began work on a high - Mach spyplane called Project Isinglass . This developed into Rheinberry , a design for a Mach - 17 air - launched reconnaissance aircraft , which was later canceled . According to Henry F . Cooper , who was the Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative ( " Star Wars " ) under President Reagan , spaceplane projects consumed $ 4 billion of funding in the 1970s , 1980s and 1990s ( excluding the Space Shuttle ) . This does not include the 1950 and 1960s budgets for the Dynasoar , ISINGLASS , Rheinberry , and any 21st - century spaceplane project which might emerge under Falcon . He told the United States Congress in 2001 that all the United States had in return for those billions of dollars was " one crashed vehicle , a hangar queen , some drop - test articles and static displays " . Falcon was allocated US $ 170 million for budget year 2008 . FALCON . The overall FALCON ( " F " orce " A " pplication and " L " aunch from " CON " tinental United States ) program announced in 2003 had two major components : a small launch vehicle for carrying payloads to orbit or launching the hypersonic weapons platform payload , and the hypersonic vehicle itself . Small Launch Vehicle . The DARPA FALCON solicitation in 2003 asked for bidders to do development work on proposed vehicles in a first phase of work , then one or more vendors would be selected to build and fly an actual launch vehicle . Companies which won first phase development contracts of $ 350 , 000 to $ 540 , 000 in November 2003 included : Hypersonic Weapon System . The first phase of the hypersonic weapon system development was won by three bidders in 2003 , each receiving a $ 1 . 2 to $ 1 . 5 million contract for hypersonic vehicle development : Lockheed Martin received the only Phase 2 HWS contract in 2004 , to develop technologies further and reduce technology risk on the program . Follow on hypersonic program . Following the Phase 2 contract , DARPA and the US Air Force continued to develop the hypersonic vehicle platform . The program was to follow a set of flight tests with a series of hypersonic technology vehicles . The FALCON project includes : The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle ( HCV ) would be able to fly 9 , 000 nautical miles ( 17 , 000 km ) in 2 hours with a payload of 12 , 000 lb ( 5 , 500 kg ) . It is to fly at a high altitude and achieve speeds of up to Mach 20 . Blackswift . The Blackswift was a proposed aircraft capable of hypersonic flight designed by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works , Boeing , and ATK . The USAF states that the " Blackswift flight demonstration vehicle will be powered by a combination turbine engine and ramjet , an all - in - one power plant . The turbine engine accelerates the vehicle to around Mach 3 before the ramjet takes over and boosts the vehicle up to Mach 6 . " Dr . Stephen Walker , the Deputy Director of DARPA ' s Tactical Technology Office , will be coordinating the project . He told the USAF website , The Falcon program has announced the hypersonic horizontal take - off Blackswift / HTV - 3X . It is also launching the HTV - 2 off the top of a rocket booster . Falcon seems to be converging from two directions , on the ultimate goal of producing a hypersonic aircraft which can take off and land from a runway in the USA , and be anywhere in the world in an hour or two . Falcon is methodically proceeding toward a Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle . Dr . Walker stated , In October 2008 it was announced that HTV - 3X or Blackswift did not receive needed funding in the fiscal year 2009 defense budget and had been canceled . The Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle program will continue with reduced funding . Flight testing . DARPA had two HTV - 2s built for two flight tests in 2010 and 2011 . The Minotaur IV light rocket is the booster for the HTV - 2 with Vandenberg Air Force Base serving as the launch site . DARPA planned the flights to demonstrate thermal protection systems and aerodynamic control features . Test flights were 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 . The first HTV - 2 flight was launched on 22 April 2010 . The HTV - 2 glider was to fly across the Pacific to Kwajalein at Mach 20 . The launch was successful , but the first mission was not completed as planned . Reports stated that contact had been lost with the vehicle nine minutes into the mission . In mid - November , DARPA revealed that the test flight had ended when the computer autopilot had " commanded flight termination " . According to a DARPA spokesman , " When the onboard system detects [ undesirable or unsafe flight ] behavior , it forces itself into a controlled roll and pitchover to descend directly into the ocean . " Reviews found that the craft had begun to roll violently . A second flight was launched on 11 August 2011 . The unmanned Falcon HTV - 2 successfully separated from the booster and entered the mission ' s glide phase , but again lost contact with control about nine minutes into its planned 30 - minute Mach 20 glide flight . Initial reports indicated it purposely impacted the Pacific Ocean along its planned flight path as a safety precaution . Some analysts thought that the second failure would result in an overhaul of the Falcon program . Refocus . In July 2013 , DARPA decided it would not conduct a third flight test of the HTV - 2 because enough data had been collected from the first two flights , and another test was not thought to provide any more usable data for the cost . The tests provided data on flight aerodynamics and high - temperature effects on the aeroshell . Work on the HTV - 2 will continue to summer 2014 to provide more study on hypersonic flight . The HTV - 2 is the last active part of the Falcon program . DARPA has now changed its focus for the program from global / strategic strike to high - speed tactical deployment to penetrate air defenses and hit targets quickly from a safe distance .