Further details of the US military hypersonics programme have emerged, with confirmation of planned tests above the Pacific in 2009.
Flight International reports that there will be two trials next year, in May and October. These will use Hypersonic Technology Vehicles (HTVs) fired up to speed aboard Minotaur solid-fuel rockets from Vandenberg airforce base in California and landing in the Pacific near Kwajalein atoll. The 2009 HTV-2s are the next step in the FALCON programme (Force Application and Launch from the CONtinental US*), intended one day to provide aircraft capable of hurtling round the world with a load of troops or bombs in mere hours, rather than taking the best part of a day.
More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/01/darpa_hypersonic_tests_2009/