This got me started.
Official News of the recent tests regarding the above.
http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2012/04/20.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersonic_Technology_Vehicle_2
descriptions of the technology.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/hytech.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet
other designs for testing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_X-43
This may be a technology that is utilized, but I have suspicions of more advanced methods of propulsion that have been and are within our ability. This technology is unsafe for manned travel without generated fields to protect it from debris, that will inevitably find the craft. This is why i believe the efforts have failed in long distances.