Stratolaunch, a company commissioned by the U.S. government to advance hypersonic flight technologies, has just reached a major milestone: the Pentagon announced this week that the firm's Talon-A has completed two hypersonic test flights – a first for a reusable vehicle.
The term hypersonic vehicle refers to a device capable of flying at Mach 5, five times the speed of sound or a little over 6000 km/h. This dizzying speed is a decisive asset at the strategic level. Indeed, a weapon or military vehicle capable of moving this fast is likely to pierce a large part of modern defenses and leaves very little time for the defender to react to a potentially devastating attack.
For this reason, they occupy an increasingly important place in the research programs of the world's major military powers. We are currently witnessing a race for hypersonic technology that, on some levels, echoes the rapid development of nuclear weapons during the Cold War.
The frontrunners in this race today are three nations seeking to establish a form of “hypersonic supremacy”: Russia, China, and United States. And if we are to believe the Pentagon's latest announcement, spotted by SpaceNews, Uncle Sam has just taken a real step forward in this area.
The first autonomous and reusable hypersonic vehicle
At the heart of this innovation is Stratolaunch, a company launched in 2011 by co-founder from Microsoft, Paul Allen. Its original goal was to launch rockets from a huge carrier aircraft (almost 120 meters in wingspan) to allow them to reach orbit while limiting the constraints associated with taking off from the surface. But the US government was quick to sniff out the startup's potential in the field of hypersonic weapons. Stratolaunch was thus integrated into the Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonic Testbed, or MACH-TB for short, a military program designed to bring this technology to maturity.
This is how the Talon-A was born, an autonomous test platform powered by a kerolox engine, closer to those of rockets than conventional aircraft. Its objective: to accelerate the innovation process. It allows engineers to refine the control, navigation and propulsion systems, aerodynamic performance and thermal protection of future hypersonic strike systems.
So it's not (yet) a military vehicle or a weapon in the strict sense – but each of its advances brings the United States closer to mastering this strategically important technology. And that's precisely what happened during the last two tests.
In December 2024, and again last March, the Talon-A launched from its carrier aircraft for two hypersonic flights that, according to the Pentagon, were entirely satisfactory. The vehicle managed to reach hypersonic speed by crossing the symbolic threshold of Mach 5. But most importantly, it was able to be recovered unharmed after these high-speed tests, something that had not happened since the end of the X-15 program in the 1960s. Furthermore, it is the first time that an unmanned vehicle has accomplished such a technical feat.
A step towards a major paradigm shift
It is difficult to determine precisely to what extent this success affects the balance of power between the United States, China and Russia. Indeed, the strategic importance of this technology means that work in this area tends to be highly confidential. For the general public, it is therefore practically impossible to take stock of the situation.
But what is certain is that this is a real step forward for American-style hypersonic flight, which is moving a little closer to technical maturity. It will therefore be necessary to continue monitoring the development of this field of research, which seems well on its way to taking the military industry into a new era.
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