London to New York in ONE HOUR: US military to test radical new hypersonic aircraft that can reach 4,500mph within seconds

It may look like a vehicle the Thunderbirds would travel in, but in fact this experimental aircraft could be the future of long haul flights.

It uses a revolutionary 'scramjet' engine that allows it to travel at hypersonic speeds.

Tomorrow, it will be dropped from a B52 bomber in its latest test.

The craft, called the X-51A Waverider, is currently being prepared at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert.

Tomorrow, it will take part in a key test.

Attached to a B-52 bomber's wing, it will be taken from Edwards to about 50,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean near Point Mugu.

there' it will be dropped and the engines fired. The entire mission will last just 300 seconds, but will be the longest the craft has ever flown for.

Hypersonic flight is seen as the next step for aircraft.

'Attaining sustained hypersonic flight is like going from propeller-driven aircraft to jet aircraft,' Robert Mercier, deputy for technology in the high speed systems division at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Ohio told the New york Times..

'Since the Wright brothers, we have examined how to make aircraft better and faster.

'Hypersonic flight is one of those areas that is a potential frontier for aeronautics.

'I believe we're standing in the door waiting to go into that arena.'