San Luis Obispo, CA -- An experimental, arrowhead-shaped aircraft is set to blast off from Vandenberg Air Force Base today. The craft could reach speeds of 13,000 mph above the Pacific Ocean. The flight is slated to test new technology that would provide the Pentagon a lightning-fast vehicle, capable of delivering a military strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour.

The unmanned aircraft is dubbed Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2. The craft will be carried into the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere aboard an eight-story Minotaur IV rocket. The aircraft will then separate, screech back toward Earth, level out and glide above the Pacific at 20 times the speed of sound, or Mach 20.