Flight Test Contract Awarded for Hypersonic Program

Stratolaunch, LLC has received a flight test contract award from Leidos, the prime contractor for the Navy’s Multiservice Advanced Capability Test Bed (MACH-TB). 

The contract award is funded by Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Crane Division through the Strategic and Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems (S²MARTS) Other Transaction Agreement (OTA). The award funds five Talon-A hypersonic flights and optional payloads.

NSWC Crane’s MACH-TB program focuses on hypersonic flight testing using robust, agile, and modular approaches. The Leidos-led team intends to deliver an affordable solution, leveraging commercial launch vehicles, including Stratolaunch’s Talon-A hypersonic vehicle, for flight testing hypersonic payloads. 

The data collected is designed to provide insight to the DoD on technology improvement and capability validation. Early, affordable, and regular hypersonic flight testing is key to robust and successful developments of hypersonic capabilities.

Stratolaunch’s Talon-A, a reusable autonomous hypersonic vehicle, operates as a high-cadence, high-speed testbed to advance the MACH-TB program development. Stratolaunch’s hypersonic contractor-owned and operated flight test service directly complements the goals of MACH-TB.

“We’re excited for the opportunity for Talon-A flights to support the goals of the MACH-TB program and to deepen our partnership with the Dynetics team,” said Dr. Zachary Krevor, Chief Executive Officer and President for Stratolaunch. “The Stratolaunch team is persistently committed to the advancement of hypersonic capabilities for our nation.”

Andy Crocker, Leidos Program Manager for MACH-TB, said; “Leidos is delighted to have Stratolaunch join the team that’s working to provide fast and affordable hypersonic flight test capabilities to the nation. Using air launch and the Talon-A reusable vehicle offers unique opportunities to advance the maturity of hypersonic technologies.”