I’ve been saying this for years, but I’m extremely skeptical the DARPA hypersonic programs just ceased.

The waverider program was a huge success, then suddenly funding stops and nothing is heard about it anymore. That was over 10 years ago, and now we have a commercially-developed dual cycle engine in under a year.

It’s my personal opinion that the technology was developed further internally for weapons and surveillance platforms like the SR-71 was back in the day. The technology just has too much potential.