The company hopes to use Talon-A as a test platform for maturing new hypersonic technologies.
US start-up Stratolaunch has completed another hypersonic flight with its reusable Talon-A vehicle.
The sortie was conducted in March but revealed by Stratolaunch on 21 May. Though the company does not disclose how many high-speed flights Talon-A has logged, the aircraft during at least two previous launches flew at speeds exceeding Mach 5.
The company, which has received funding and test support from the Pentagon, aims to develop a reusable test platform that can reliably achieve high-Mach flight. That in turn will assist other companies in testing and developing additional hypersonic flight technologies.
“Hypersonic testing requires precision, speed and reliable access to flight,” says Stratolaunch chief executive Zachary Krevor. “Each mission expands the nation’s ability to test and advance critical technologies, and we are proud to support our government partners as they accelerate innovation in high-speed flight.”
The latest launch is part of a programme with the US Missile Defense Agency.
Stratolaunch completed its first hypersonic flight in December 2024, followed by a second successful mission in March 2025.
For both those tests, Stratolaunch’s massive captive-carry aircraft, known as Roc, dropped the experimental vehicle over the Pacific Ocean. The rocket-powered Talon-A then accelerated to speeds exceeding Mach 5 – the generally accepted threshold for hypersonic flight – before landing at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The Talon-A’s first subsonic-powered flight happened in March 2024.
Unlike Stratolaunch’s first two hypersonic sorties, the latest launch saw the Talon-A carried aloft by a company-owned specialised Boeing 747-400 dubbed the Spirit of Mojave. The March flight was the first publicly confirmed use of the modified 747 as part of a hypersonic sortie.
The company’s Roc mothership is believed to be the largest aircraft flying. The all-composite, high-wing aircraft (registration N351SL) was created by Scaled Composites as a purpose-built air-launch vehicle for Stratolaunch.
Roc boasts a 117m (385ft) wingspan and is powered by six engines originally developed for the 747. Stratolaunch says Roc boasts a payload capacity of 226,800kg (500,000lb).
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