The most advanced plane ever built was from X series aircrafts and X-43 being the fastest among them . The lightning speed X-43 was an unmanned hypersonic aircraft with multiple planned scale variations meant to test various aspects of Hypersonic Flight.
It was part of the X-plane series and specifically of Nasa's Hyper-X program. It set several airspeed records for jet aircraft.
The X-43 is the fastest aircraft on record at approximately Mach 9.6.
A winged booster rocket with the X-43 placed on top, called a ‘stack", was drop launched from a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.
After the booster rocket (a modified first stage of the Pegasus Rocket brought the stack to the target speed and altitude, it was discarded, and the X-43 flew free using its own engine, a scramjet.
The first plane in the series, the X-43A, was a single-use vehicle. Three of them were built.
The first was destroyed after malfunctioning in flight; the other two flew successfully, with the scramjet operating for approximately 10 seconds, followed by a 10-minute glide and intentional crash into the ocean.
