The Waverider's engine was supposed to have ignited four seconds after it was released
The US Air Force has said an attempt to fly its hypersonic jet Waverider at Mach 6 (3,600mph; 5795km/h) failed.
The unmanned aircraft had been designed to fly at six times the speed of sound after being dropped from a B-52 bomber.But officials said that a faulty control fin prevented it from starting its supersonic-combustion ramjet engine,
and the craft was lost.
It marks the second time in a row that the Air Force has been unable to test the technology as planned.
Last summer the hypersonic aircraft reached Mach 5, but the engine failed to attain full power and eventually fell into the Pacific Ocean.
The Pentagon - which helped fund the project - has been testing hypersonic technologies in an effort to develop faster missiles.
The research could also be used to build a commercial plane with the promise of London to New York trips taking as little as an hour, or Tokyo to Paris journeys slightly more than double that time.
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