For the longest time, the fastest plane that the U.S. Air Force had in it's fleet was the SR-71 Blackbird. The Blackbird served the U.S. Air Force between 1964 and 1998 when it was "retired." I say "retired" because after they retired it, they didn't have anything to replace it...or so we were to believe. Why would you retire the fastest plane ever if you didn't have something to replace it with? My guess is that they did, and just didn't tell the public about it. Now let's jump ahead to 2013...
In that year, the U.S. Air Force tested the X-51 WaveRider hypersonic plane, but it wasn't to introduce it to us as the Air Force's new elite plane for service, but more of a tech demo. Since then, it's creators have further developed this tech, and the Air Force now plans on getting the next generation of hypersonic planes into service by the year 2023, and these plans are said to reach speeds of Mach 5.1. They want to create an entire fleet of these planes, but may end up just creating a few "flagship" planes due to the expensive nature of this endeavor.
Air Force Chief Scientist Mica Endsley told Military.com that the new plane will incorporate the new tech that they've gathered from the X-51 so these new planes are "capable of operating at the kind of temperatures you have when you are going at hypersonic speeds." To make all of this possible, they are also currently developing a guidance system that can still function at speeds of Mach 5.
The Air Force's goal is a lofty one, to say the least, but it is a good thing that they are giving themselves nearly a decade to get this project off the ground. The X-51 was the culmination of many failed attempts at a hypersonic plane, and a "recent test of a hypersonic missile didn't even make it through takeoff." So, yeah, they still have a few bugs to work out, but still, it all seems pretty cool!
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