The U.S. military lost contact with an unmanned hypersonic glider shortly after it launched on a test flight today (Aug. 11) as part of a global strike weapons program to develop vehicles capable of flying at Mach 20 and reach any target in the world in an hour.

With an eye toward making good on U.S. President Barack Obama's nearly year-old pledge to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security, some of his top lieutenants have begun asserting that technological advances now allow greater reliance on conventional arms for strategic deterrence.

The hush-hush X-37B robotic space plane launched by the United States Air Force late Thursday is many things, but it's no space weapon, according to high-ranking official with the project.

As the White House pushes for cuts in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, the Pentagon is developing a weapon to help fill the gap: missiles armed with conventional warheads that could strike anywhere in the world in less than an hour.

The U.S. Defense Department could spend as much as a half-billion dollars to flight-test a new conventionally armed ballistic missile with a sophisticated capability to destroy targets virtually anywhere around the world.

The United States will be able to hit any target in Russia from space by 2030, the commander of Russia's air force said on Tuesday, announcing that Moscow will develop a new air defense system to avert the threat.

The mission: Attack anywhere in the world in less than an hour. But is the Pentagon's bold program a critical new weapon for hitting elusive targets, or a good way to set off a nuclear war?

A senior U.S. defense official last week cast doubt on the national security value of proposed conventional weapons capable of hitting targets anywhere around the world on short notice.

The American military is planning a “spaceplane” designed to fly a crack squad of heavily armed marines to trouble spots anywhere in the world within four hours.

The Pentagon wants to rocket troops through space to hot spots anywhere on the globe within two hours, and planners spent two days last month discussing the project currently named "Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion (SUSTAIN)."