Winged body is supposed to be second stage, sitting vertically on the rocket which lifts the whole rocket. Winged body cross section is almost circular that should match the lifting rocket, reducing the drag considerably.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersonic_Flight_Experiment#/...

This winged RLV, vertical landing launchers etc. are research programs that are generally under funded low priority programs. With the launch of India's human spaceflight program, RLV went even further down or priority list. I don't expect anything to come out of this in this decade, until after HSP program launches.