Stratolaunch has been added to the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division Multiservice Advanced Capability Test Bed award.
Under the contract, which was granted through the Strategic and Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems Other Transaction agreement, Stratolaunch will work alongside Dynetics to support the MACH-TB project, the Mojave, California-based organization announced on Thursday.
“We’re excited for the opportunity for Talon-A flights to be integrated into the MACH-TB program as part of the Dynetics team. We look forward to providing flight test opportunities needed to advance hypersonics systems development for the services,” said Stratolaunch CEO Zachary Krevor.
Stratolaunch’s Talon-A vehicle, a reusable autonomous hypersonic testbed, will function as a high-cadence, high-speed testbed and will be used to progress the development of the MACH-TB program.
Dynetics will lead the collaboration, which additionally includes over 20 organizations in the industry spanning small business, national laboratories and academia. Stratolaunch and other entities involved will present strategies to prototype a testbed that leverages commercial launch vehicles while maintaining cost-effectiveness.
The MACH-TB program centers around supporting hypersonic programs with opportunities for flight testing technologies with robust, agile and modular approaches. Stratolaunch’s Talon-A vehicle, which will be utilized for flight testing hypersonic payloads, aligns with these goals.
Data collected in these assessments will provide the Department of Defense with information relevant to technology enhancement and capability validation. Consistent, affordable hypersonic flight testing is aimed to enable productive developments in hypersonic weapon systems.
Dynetics, a Leidos-owned company, was first awarded the contract in October to aid in the construction of a launch vehicle and the development of an experimental glide body to increase the capacity for hypersonic flight testing. The testbed is meant to create a centralized hypersonic testing ability that will benefit various military initiatives and be used for numerous commercial launch vehicles carrying hypersonic payloads.
