Hypersonic flight tests get democratized
By Liz Stein and Davide Viganò|December 2024
The Hypersonic Technologies and Aerospace Planes Technical Committee works to expand the hypersonic knowledge base and promote continued hypersonic technology progress through ground and flight testing.
Academia saw funding directed toward development of high-temperature hypersonic materials research. In March, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded $7.5 million to a team led by the Missouri University of Science and Technology. In May, NASA awarded Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research $10 million.
Significant funding was also allocated to continue development of ground testing facilities. Announced in January, the University of Central Florida will build a midscale, high-enthalpy propulsion testing facility; the University of Illinois will develop a high-enthalpy wind tunnel focused on propulsion physics research; and the University of Tennessee plans to upgrade its 500-kilowatt pulsed arc-jet facility for continuous operations. In addition to these developments, the Pentagon in March announced plans to construct a new hypersonic ground testing track, further bolstering U.S. testing and evaluation infrastructure.
Also this year, the promise of commercial hypersonic flight testing became reality. Varda Space Industries in February and SpaceX in March, June, October and November gathered videos of reentry plasma during flight tests. Varda recorded and played back the video of its W-1 capsule’s flight, while SpaceX hosted live broadcasts. The June flight marked the first time a Starship upper stage survived reentry, and in November a Starship reignited an engine in space before splashing down in the Indian Ocean. In March, Stratolaunch achieved its first hypersonic flight, reaching Mach 5 with its Talon-A1.
In September, Hermeus of Georgia broke ground on its engine and flight test facility in Jacksonville, Florida, further proving that private capital is willing to take on technology development risks that were once the sole domain of nation states.
Government-sponsored hypersonic flight testing continued its trend from prior years but with a better success rate, signaling significant progress. In March, the U.S. Air Force tested its Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon for perhaps the final time before this air-to-ground missile is moved into production. In June, the U.S. Army deployed its ground-launched Long Range Hypersonic Weapon in a joint exercise with the U.S. Navy. Also that month, the Missile Defense Agency conducted the first flight of its Hypersonic Testbed, a Kratos-built craft designed to gather flight data and accelerate hypersonic development. In September, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Research Laboratory and the German Aerospace Center, DLR, conducted a joint test in Norway of their BOLT-1B vehicle. They gathered information on boundary-layer transition and turbulent flow.
International developments continued their upward trajectory for investment and collaboration. In May, the U.K. awarded a $1.3 billion contract to Australia’s Hypersonix Launch Systems and Canada’s Space Engine Systems for the development of new hypersonic weapons. Also in May, the U.S. and Japan expanded their cooperation in hypersonic defense by signing an agreement to co-develop a hypersonic interceptor vehicle. Japan in July released footage showing its progress in developing its Hyper-Velocity Gliding Projectile. In March, Kyiv researchers reported the first battlefield use of Russia’s Zircon hypersonic missile. North Korea claimed a successful ground test of its first solid rocket motor propulsion system for its intermediate range hypersonic missile in March. North Korea appeared to conduct the first flight test in July, but South Korean officials reported that the missile exploded in midair.
Defense contractors saw significant investment in hypersonic technologies. Lockheed Martin secured two major contracts: $756 million in May for the LRHW missile and a $534 million award in June for the Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic boost-glide missile. Raytheon in January received a $407 million contract from the Air Force to continue development of the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile. In July, the U.S. Army confirmed plans to begin deploying hypersonic weapons in Europe by 2026.
