Mach 5 hypersonic aircraft company unveils full-scale prototype

Aerospace company, Hermeus, has revealed a full-scale prototype of its Mach 5-capable hypersonic aircraft.

The aircraft, called QuarterHouse, is the first in a line of autonomous high-speed aircraft. It will help validate the company’s proprietary turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine, based around the GE J85 turbojet engine.

Hermeus brought together a diverse group of investors, industry leaders, military and government officials, researchers, and local civic associations – all the stakeholders who can make hypersonic flight a reality.

This included some special guest speakers, including entrepreneur and investor Vinod Khosla and Brigadier General Jason Lindsey.

“Less than three years ago, this felt almost impossible. And it’s gone from almost impossible, to possible, to probable today, and hopefully soon, real flight,” said Khosla.

A major emphasis of unveiling was to highlight progress being made on hardware development and integration.

To the surprise of the crowd, Hermeus fired up the aircraft’s engine at maximum afterburner throttle.

“When an aerospace company typically unveils a new aircraft, it’s nothing more than Styrofoam and fiberglass,” said Skyler Shuford, Hermeus COO. “But at Hermeus, we drive to integrated products. And we really, really like to make fire.”

While this Quarterhorse prototype was not designed to fly, it is much more than just a showpiece. Building this vehicle was an exercise in multidisciplinary design, manufacturing, and the integration of complete systems.

“We designed, manufactured, and integrated the aircraft, from nothing but an outer shape, in four months,” said Shuford.

Hermeus recently won a $60m US Air Force contract to flight test the aircraft. By the end of the flight test campaign, Quarterhorse aims to be the fastest reusable aircraft in the world and the first of its kind to fly a TBCC engine.

The award was made under the AFWERX Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) programme led by the Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate (PE) as a follow-on to a Phase II SBIR contract. The collaboration also includes support from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

www.hermeus.com