It reached Mach 4.8 in less than half a minute powered by a solid rocket booster.

NPR: Experimental Air Force Aircraft Goes Hypersonic

With Boyd Rankin on international duty for Ireland, Tahir seized his opportunity after last week's confidence boost in dismissing Andrew Strauss, Matt Prior and Andrew Flintoff in a warm-up mach for England's Ashes squad.

BBC: Joyce victim of freak dismissal

Mach is a measure of the ratio of the velocity of an object, in this case a plane, to the velocity of sound, which equals Mach 1, or 761.2 miles per hour.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Yep, in the 1971 flick Diamonds Are Forever 007 drove a 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1.

FORBES: Ten Bond Cars You Can Afford

Though the WaveRider was designed to reach Mach 6, or six times the speed of sound, program officials were satisfied with its performance in the latest test.

NPR: Experimental Air Force Aircraft Goes Hypersonic