The California-based startup has completed two hypersonic flights of its reusable aircraft, which became the first fully autonomous drone to reach Mach 5.
Stratolaunch’s Talon-A2 has completed a series of test flights for the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, part of a hypersonic testing program that is reminiscent of Cold War efforts such as the X-15, which was retired in 1968. The hypersonic vehicle exceeded Mach 5 during tests that took place in December 2024 and March 2025, Stratolaunch said this week.
“We have demonstrated hypersonic speed, added the challenge of landing on a full runway with rapid payload recovery, and proven reusability,” said Zachary Crevor, president and CEO of Stratolaunch, in a statement. The Talon-A prototype is an autonomous, reusable aircraft capable of flying at least five times the speed of sound. During test flights, the Roc – the largest aircraft ever built – launched the vehicle over the Pacific Ocean. Stratolaunch’s Roc took off with the Talon-A1 on board before the hypersonic aircraft made its own flight and landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
When Stratolaunch was founded in 2011, it intended to use Roc to launch Orbital ATK’s Pegasus XL rocket into space. After the death of founder Paul Allen in 2018, the company switched to developing, deploying, and flying hypersonic vehicles. In December 2021, Stratolaunch announced that it had signed a contract with the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency to create a test site to develop strategies to defend against hypersonic threats.
In March 2024, the Talon-A1 made its first test flight, reaching a hypersonic speed of Mach 5. Unlike the Talon-A1, Stratolaunch’s latest prototype, the Talon-A2, is fully reusable. The company is developing future versions of the Talon-A that will be equipped with a rocket engine and will be able to carry customized payloads at hypersonic speeds. Stratolaunch is also working on a larger hypersonic vehicle, dubbed Talon-Z, and a spaceplane nicknamed Black Ice that will carry payloads and possibly passengers into Earth orbit.
The recent Talon-A2 flights were the first hypersonic flights since the X-15 program, which was carried out by the US Air Force and NASA. The X-15 hypersonic aircraft were launched from a B-52 and flew a total of 199 flights over 10 years. The program ended in the late 1960s due to lack of funding and a shift in focus to orbital missions.
The Department of Defense has renewed interest in hypersonic vehicles as other countries, such as China and Russia, work to develop their own. The United States has never operated a reusable hypersonic vehicle, which could significantly reduce costs. “Demonstrating the reuse of fully reusable hypersonic test vehicles is an important milestone for MACH-TB,” said George Rumford, director of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Test Resource Management Center. “The lessons learned during this test campaign will help us reduce vehicle recovery time from months to weeks.”
