©Reuters.
(Reuters) – Private U.S. company Stratolaunch said on Saturday it had successfully completed the first powered flight of its Talon-A reusable hypersonic vehicle, but gave no precise details.
“Today was an amazing day for the Stratolaunch team. I am extremely proud of their perseverance in reaching this point,” company president Zachary Krevor said in a statement.
“While I cannot share the specific altitude and speed achieved by the TA-1… we achieved supersonic speeds approaching Mach 5 and collected a large amount of data of incredible value to our customers,” he said.
Defense contractors hope to take advantage of the shift to hypersonic weapons by not only building them but also developing new systems to detect and defend against them.
Stratolaunch hopes to complete development of the reusable Talon-A this year.
“The primary objectives of the flight test included safe release of the TA-1 vehicle, engine ignition, acceleration, sustained climb to altitude, and a controlled water landing,” the statement read.
The United States and its global rivals are accelerating work on hypersonic weapons, which travel in the upper atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound.