The USAF has jumped into hypersonics with a large investment in Hermeus-the Georgia-based aerospace start-up pioneering the development of a Mach 5 commercial aircraft-already acquiring partnerships with both NASA and the USAF, with whom it committed to invest $60 million to develop and test the Quarterhorse unmanned hypersonic aircraft and its propulsion systems.
The Quarterhorse is designed to demonstrate Hermeus’ proprietary TBCC engine, based on the GE J85 turbojet. It will be the fastest reusable aircraft in the world, as well as the first to operate a TBCC engine, flying at Mach 5 speed. The hypersonic aircraft will be autonomous or remotely piloted; it has a basic range of 4,600 miles – 7,403 km. Hermeus designed the Quarterhorse to undertake several tests and demonstrations, laying the groundwork for a hypersonic aircraft shortly that is capable of carrying 20 passengers.
The Hermeus worked with NASA to assess its technology maturation and shared lessons learned. The company will employ autonomous and reusable systems, focused requirements, and a hardware-rich program in testing the TBCC engine across its full flight envelope. Techniques that ensure it can push the envelope hard sometimes up to failure accelerate learning while enhancing the safety of flight test crews and the public.
The technology Hermeus is developing puts the company firmly in the dual-use space for hypersonic technology, equally applicable to the civilian and military sectors. AJ Piplica, the chief executive and co-founder of Hermeus highlighted that the deal with the USAF underlined the Department of Defense’s interest in hypersonic planes, while the work with NASA underlines the commercial potential of their inventions.
In a related development, Hermeus has completed ground testing on the first iteration of its Quarterhorse remotely piloted aircraft. The company announced that it had wrapped up the ground-based evaluations for the Quarterhorse Mk 0, a non-flying test article that represents the first of four planned vehicles under the program. Technical objectives of the Mk 0 included remote command and control taxiing, radio frequency latency evaluation, and handling qualities during ground operations of the integrated systems.
Accelerating that timeline is Hermeus’ fast and iterative approach to design. The company, in the most recent news, finished all test objectives in only 37 days of deployed evaluations at the USAF’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tullahoma, Tennessee. The facility houses over 68 specialty test units, including aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test cells, and environmental chambers.
In November 2023, the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit awarded Hermeus research and development funding to advance the maturation of hypersonic technologies and the development of a flight vehicle. Hermeus hopes to provide an uncrewed aircraft that will go above Mach 4 to break the record-thus-far airspeed by Lockheed Martin’s SR-71 Blackbird nearly 50 years ago.
To reach such ambitious targets, Hermeus is developing its powerplant, called Chimera turbine-based combined cycle engine featuring a pre-cooler, an off-the-shelf turbojet, and a ramjet for high Mach speeds. An End.
The last Quarterhorse Mk 3 type is aimed to be the fastest aircraft in the world by successfully demonstrating ramjet transition and beating the SR-71 flight speed record. Hermeus also intends to adapt its hypersonic technology for both military uncrewed aerial vehicles and commercial passenger aircraft.
Adding to this strategic benefit, Hermeus has enlisted Will Roper, the former head of acquisition for the USAF, onto its board of directors. Roper is notorious for speeding up acquisition timelines and infusing disruptive innovation within the government. His experience will become priceless for Hermeus while working on a hypersonic aircraft for both national security missions and flying passengers commercially.