Hypersonic vehicles have become the latest military prestige technology, and the US seems to be lagging its rivals. That could change after the successful flight of an autonomous and reusable hypersonic aircraft by US firm Stratolaunch.
In recent years, both China and Russia have unveiled missiles capable of hypersonic speeds, which means they can travel at more than five times the speed of sound. These weapons are both incredibly fast and highly maneuverable which makes them hard to track and intercept.
While the US is developing several hypersonic weapons, the country is widely seen as playing catch up against its two main adversaries. That’s why in 2022 the Pentagon launched the MACH-TB program to create low-cost options for testing hypersonic technology that could speed development.
As part of that program, Stratolaunch recently conducted two test flights of its reusable Talon-A2 hypersonic aircraft. This week the company confirmed that the vehicle had achieved speeds in excess of Mach 5 in both missions before safely landing at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
“We’ve now demonstrated hypersonic speed, added the complexity of a full runway landing with prompt payload recovery, and proven reusability,” president and CEO of Stratolaunch Zachary Krevor said in a statement. “Both flights were great achievements for our country, our company, and our partners.”
The Talon-A2’s design is reminiscent of the Space Shuttle. It’s 28 feet long and is powered by a 5,000-pound-thrust reusable rocket engine built by US startup Ursa Major. The vehicle was air-launched over the Pacific Ocean by Stratolaunch’s Roc carrier plane—the largest aircraft in the world—in December 2024 and again in March of this year.
While the company didn’t provide many details on the flights, such as altitude or top speed, Krevor confirmed to Ars Technica that it had performed a number of “high-G” maneuvers on its way back to Earth.
This is the first time the US has had a reusable hypersonic vehicle since the retirement of the rocket-powered X-15 crewed aircraft in 1968. But crucially, the Talon-A2 can fly autonomously, which should make it far more useful for testing hypersonic weapon systems.
“Hypersonic systems are now pushing the envelope in terms of maneuvering capability, maneuvering beyond what can be done by the human body,” Krevor told Ars Technica. “Therefore, being able to perform flights with an autonomous, reusable, hypersonic testbed ensures that these flights are exploring the full envelope of capability that represents what’s occurring in hypersonic system development today.”
The goal of the MACH-TB program is to create a testbed for defense companies to test various subsystems and materials in the punishing conditions generated by hypersonic speeds.
While Stratolaunch didn’t provide details about the payloads carried on these first two flights, Northrup Grumman said that one of the missions tested out its Advanced Hypersonic Technology Inertial Measurement Unit. The device is designed to help hypersonic vehicles navigate by keeping track of their movements from a known starting point using motion sensors.
Stratolaunch isn’t the only company involved in the program. US startup Rocket Lab has also created a suborbital version of its Electron rocket for use as a hypersonic testing platform. But the reusability of the Talon-A2 is likely to be attractive for companies looking to rapidly iterate on hypersonic designs.
That suggests the US might not be a laggard in the hypersonic race much longer.
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