Stratolaunch, a California-based firm building a reusable hypersonic test vehicle, is modifying its carrier aircraft to support high-speed test missio

Stratolaunch readies second carrier plane for Talon-A hypersonic ride

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2025-01-16 13:00:19

Stratolaunch, a California-based firm building a reusable hypersonic test vehicle, is modifying its carrier aircraft to support high-speed test missions around the globe.

Through a nearly $25 million contract from the Missile Defense Agency the company will modify one of its launch platforms, dubbed the Spirit of Mojave, to fly from any airport that can support an aircraft the size of a 747 jetliner.

Stratolaunch, which announced the award Jan. 9, hopes to have the modifications complete to support testing by the fourth quarter of this year. CEO Zachary Krevor told Defense News the timing of the award comes as the firm is seeing growing demand for its hypersonic test vehicle, Talon-A.

“Our company’s goal is to get to one flight test a month this calendar year and then next year start to beat that and really address that Pentagon demand,” he said.

DoD is working to increase its testing rigor, setting a goal in 2022 to eventually conduct one hypersonic test flight each week. Talon-A could provide the department with a reusable, more affordable platform to test and validate high-speed components, subsystems and other technologies.