Stratolaunch Announces Research Contract with U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory

Stratolaunch, LLC is pleased to announce a research contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

Stratolaunch, under partnership with Booz Allen Hamilton, is on contract with AFRL to examine and assess the feasibility of hypersonic flight tests of a wide range of Air Force experiments and payloads on a frequent and routine basis.

Stratolaunch supports national security objectives for hypersonic offensive and defensive weapons development through the design, manufacture, and operation of a fleet of reusable hypersonic aerospace vehicles air-launched from its globally deployable carrier aircraft, Roc. The company plans to augment existing Department of Defense flight test resources through affordable, commercially contracted, rapid-turnaround hypersonic flight testing for the Department of Defense and its prime contractor partners.

Stratolaunch’s Roc carrier aircraft landing during its third test flight on Jan. 16, 2022. Roc is the world’s largest aircraft by wingspan, standing at 385 ft. It will be used to air-launch the company’s Talon hypersonic test vehicles.

Our goal is to provide affordable and routine access to the hypersonic flight environment. We look forward to sharing lessons learned from this collaboration with AFRL, yielding powerful and practical research results benefiting the nation.

Dr. Daniel Millman, Chief Technology Officer for Stratolaunch

Source: Stratolaunch news release

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