Pentagon’s Hypersonic Drone Hits Mach 5 in Record-Breaking Tests

A California-based startup pulled disconnected 2 hypersonic flights of its reusable aircraft, which became the archetypal afloat autonomous drone to scope Mach 5 speeds.

Stratolaunch’s Talon-A2 completed a bid of trial flights for the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, portion of a hypersonic testbed programme that echoes Cold War-era efforts similar the X-15, which retired successful 1968. The hypersonic conveyance exceeded Mach 5 speeds during the tests that took spot successful December 2024 and March 2025, Stratolaunch revealed this week.

“We’ve present demonstrated hypersonic speed, added the complexity of a afloat runway landing with punctual payload recovery, and proven reusability,”  Zachary Krevor, president and CEO of Stratolaunch, said successful a statement. The Talon-A prototype is an autonomous, reusable craft susceptible of flying astatine slightest 5 times the velocity of sound. During its trial flights, Roc—the largest airplane ever built—released the conveyance implicit the Pacific Ocean. Stratolaunch’s Roc took disconnected with Talon-A1 tucked successful its belly earlier the hypersonic conveyance conducted its ain formation and landed astatine Vandenberg Space Force Base.

A presumption of the gigantic Roc aircraft. Image: Stratolaunch

When it was founded successful 2011, Stratolaunch intended to usage Roc to motorboat Orbital ATK’s Pegasus XL rocket into space. Following its laminitis Paul Allen’s decease successful 2018, the institution switched gears to focusing connected developing, deploying, and flying hypersonic vehicles instead. In December 2021, Stratolaunch announced a declaration with the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency to supply a testbed for processing defence strategies against hypersonic threats.

In March 2024, Talon-A1 launched for its archetypal powered trial flight, reaching hypersonic speeds that didn’t rather marque it to Mach 5. Unlike Talon-A1, Stratolaunch’s latest prototype, Talon-A2 is afloat reusable. The institution is processing aboriginal versions of the Talon-A, which volition beryllium rocket-powered and susceptible of carrying customizable payloads astatine hypersonic speeds. Stratolaunch is besides moving connected a larger hypersonic vehicle, dubbed Talon-Z, and a spaceplane nicknamed Black Ice, that would transportation payloads—and perchance passengers—to Earth orbit.

Talon-A2’s caller flights people the archetypal hypersonic flights since the X-15 programme conducted by the U.S. Air Force and NASA. The X-15 hypersonic craft were air-launched from a B-52 aircraft, and flew a full of 199 times implicit the span of 10 years. The programme ended successful the precocious 1960s owed to a deficiency of backing and a displacement of absorption toward orbital missions.

The Department of Defense has shown a renewed involvement successful hypersonic vehicles arsenic different nations similar China and Russia are moving connected processing their own. The U.S. has ne'er operated a reusable hypersonic vehicle, a capableness that could importantly trim costs. “Demonstrating the reuse of afloat recoverable hypersonic trial vehicles is an important milestone for MACH-TB,” George Rumford, manager of the Department of Defense Test Resource Management Center, said successful a statement. “Lessons learned from this trial run volition assistance america trim conveyance turnaround clip from months down to weeks.”