Defense Department scientists are set to conduct a second test
launch next year of the Falcon HTV-2 experimental superweapon
after the first flight this year ended when the autopilot
deliberately crashed the unmanned glider into the ocean as a
safety measure. The Falcon Hypersonic Test Vehicle is designed
to skim the top of the atmosphere just below space, and is a key
element of the Pentagon's Conventional Prompt Global Strike
(CPGS) capability — a program to build non-nuclear strategic
weapons that can strike conventionally anywhere in the world in
less than an hour. In a statement last week, the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) revealed for the first
time that the first test flight April 20 ended when the
autonomous onboard control system — the computer autopilot
flying the futuristic superweapon — "commanded flight
termination." "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