Associated Press
May 1 2003

HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- A rocket-powered sled shot down a 3-mile straightaway in about six seconds to break a world record that had stood for two decades.

The monorail sled set the land speed mark for rail vehicles early Wednesday at the Holloman High Speed Test Track, testing a 192-pound bullet-shaped payload being developed by the 846th Test Squadron and the Missile Defense Agency.

The test, in a remote area of the base, started with a brilliant, multihued blaze of rocket engines and ended in a spray of sparks when a missile carried by the sled slammed into an immobile target. There was silence until a split second before the end, when earsplitting bursts rolled across the desert floor.

``Psychologically, you think it's over. But then comes the sonic boom. I know it's coming. But I always jump a little,'' said Lt. Col. Russ Kurtz, director of operations.

Preliminary numbers put the sled's speed at Mach 8.6 - almost nine times the speed of sound - or about 6,400 mph, said Lt. Col. James Jolliffe, 846th Test Squadron commander. The previous record was Mach 8, or 6,122 mph, set on Oct. 5, 1982, also at Holloman.

``There were a lot of high five's, hugs, handshakes all around,'' Jolliffe said. ``My hat's off to all the people that made it happen.''

The sled was designed to cover the first 1.4 miles in 4.65 seconds, then speed up in the final stages and cover 1.8 miles in 1.3 seconds, Kurtz said. At the end, bolts were detonated to allow the missile to detach from the sled and successfully hit its target.

An upgrade, started in 1997, converted the sled to a double, narrow-gauge track, reducing vibration and allowing faster speeds.

Base spokesman Bob Pepper had no information on whether any higher speeds had been reached by land vehicles other than sleds, because the base doesn't do other types of land speed experiments.

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