US Air Force plane that could cross Atlantic in hour looks like an UFO

The X-51 WaveRider drops out of the bottom of a bomber and can fly many times the speed of sound

The US Air Force is developing a super-fast weapon that can fly many times the speed of sound.

Travelling at over Mach 5.1, the jet could make it from London to New York in an hour. But it will be used instead as a super-fast weapon, working like a missile.

"We are the Air Force. What do we want to do with this technology? We want to weaponize it," Ryan Helbach, an official with the Air Force Research Laboratory, told Military.com. It’s unclear how it would be used as a weapon, but US officials expect that China and other countries are building similar technology.

The X-51 WaveRider, developed by Boeing, works by dropping out of a traditional plane. During successful tests, it flew through the air using almost no moving parts and a special air-breathing system that allows it to fly so fast.

Boeing is now working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to shrink it into a weapon that could be attached to bomber planes.

When that happens, the special plane will be able to strike targets super-fast, without pilots and aircraft ever having to get close to them.

"You could then attack defensive targets, those heavily defended or the time-critical targets in a very timely manner — if it's a moving target, before it can move," Kenneth Davidson, who manages the development at the Air Force Research Laboratory, told Military.com. "And then ultimately, these would have a sensor so that they can track a moved target — not necessarily something that is moving, but if the target moves or it gets into the area, they can see the target and hit it very, very accurately."

-The Independent