During the recent mission, Talon-A2 exceeded Mach 5 again, surpassing the speed achieved in the December flight. The company also successfully recovered the vehicle, proving both high speed and runway landing capabilities.
“With the data collected from this second flight, we are able to apply lessons learned to enhance the strength and performance of the Talon-A vehicles,” said Dr Zachary Krevor, President and CEO of Stratolaunch. “We’ve now demonstrated hypersonic speed, added the complexity of a full runway landing with prompt payload recovery, and proven reusability.”
The Talon-A design was confirmed to be robust during the first flight review. Stratolaunch says both test flights were major accomplishments for the company, its partners, and the nation.
“I am in awe of what this team has achieved,” Dr Krevor added. “We’ve executed four incredible Talon-A flights, completed twenty-four Roc flights to date, flew two new supersonic and hypersonic airplanes in a single year, and we are firmly on the path to making hypersonic flight test services a reality.”
Stratolaunch carried out these missions for the U.S. Test Resource Management Center (TRMC) under the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Test Bed (MACH-TB) programme, in partnership with Leidos. This was the company’s second MACH-TB test flight.
“These flights were a huge success for our program and for the nation,” said Scott Wilson, MACH-TB Programme Manager. “The opportunity for technology testing at a high rate is highly valuable as we push the pace of hypersonic testing.”
George Rumford, Director of TRMC, said reusability is a key step forward. “Lessons learned from this test campaign will help us reduce vehicle turnaround time from months down to weeks,” he stated.
Stratolaunch remains committed to supporting U.S. defence goals and advancing reusable hypersonic systems. These flights mark America’s return to reusable hypersonic testing since the end of the X-15 programme in 1968.
