Speed tape is an aluminized

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 tape

Adhesive tape

Adhesive tape is one of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive. Several types of adhesives can be used.-Types:Pressure sensitive tape...

 used to do minor repairs on airplanes. It looks similar to duct tape

Duct tape

Duct tape, or duck tape, is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure sensitive tape often sealed with polyethylene. It is very similar to gaffer tape but differs in that gaffer tape was designed to be cleanly removed, while duct tape was not. It has a standard width of and is generally silver or black...

 (silver gray), but its adhesive

Adhesive

An adhesive, or glue, is a mixture in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adheres or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or synthetic sources. The types of materials that can be bonded are vast but they are especially useful for bonding thin materials...

 is capable of sticking on an airplane fuselage

Fuselage

The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...

 or wing at high speeds, hence the name. During the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, helicopter

Helicopter

A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

 rotor

Helicopter rotor

A helicopter main rotor or rotor system is a type of fan that is used to generate both the aerodynamic lift force that supports the weight of the helicopter, and thrust which counteracts aerodynamic drag in forward flight...

 blades damaged by small-arms fire had a temporary repair performed by battle-damage repair crews in the field using the tape. This tape is also known as 600 mph tape.

In the U.S. Air Force, it was often referred to as "thousand mile an hour" tape.

• It is thermally conductive
  Thermal conductivity
  In physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the property of a material's ability to conduct heat. It appears primarily in Fourier's Law for heat conduction....
  
  .
• It has a high heat reflectivity.
• It resists UV degradation
  UV degradation
  Many natural and synthetic polymers are attacked by ultra-violet radiation and products made using these materials may crack or disintegrate . The problem is known as UV degradation, and is a common problem in products exposed to sunlight...
  
   for long-term durability.
• It is resistant to moisture and solvents.
• It is also flame resistant.

Use of speed tape should be authorized by engineering teams and comply with certain requirements. For example it can be used "with holes no larger in diameter than 2 inches and no closer to the edge of the panel than 3 inches."