MOJAVE, US: A US based private company Stratolaunch has announced successful completion of the first powered flight of its Talon-A reusable hypersonic vehicle.
Company president Zachary Krevor in a statement congratulated the Stratolaunch team on the achievement.
He did not share the specific altitude and speed TA-1 reached, but added the aircraft reached high supersonic speeds approaching Mach 5 and gathered a great amount of data at an incredible value to the customers.
Defense contractors expected to take benefit from the shift to hypersonic weapons not only by manufacturing them but also by creating new systems to defend against them.
Stratolaunch company hopes to complete development of the reusable Talon-A this year.
The statement said primary objectives for the flight test were achieving safe air-launch release of the TA-1 vehicle, acceleration, sustained climb in altitude, engine ignition, and a controlled water landing.
The U.S. and its rivals internationally are enhancing work on hypersonic weapons, which travel in the higher atmosphere at more than five times the speed of sound.
