In May, 2025, hypersonic plane developer Hermeus flew its Quarterhorse Mk 1 prototype. It flew at Edwards Air Force Base. They are showing rapid, iterative development. They got a flying prototype in 20 months. It was 204 days from the completed design to the flying prototype. The Quarterhouse Mk2 that will fly at Mach 3 …
A Ukrainian unmanned surface vessel armed with an R-73 air-to-air missile shot down a Russian Su-30 naval fighter roughly 50 km west of Novorossiysk. This is the first time in history that a military aircraft has been downed by an unmanned Navy drone ship. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular …
Venus Aerospace, a leader in hypersonics deep-tech startups aimed at revolutionizing high-speed flight, has successfully achieved ignition of its ‘VDR2’ engine. VDR2 offers a single engine solution from Mach 0 to Mach 6. This marks the first successful Rocket-Based Combined Cycle test. The engine architecture was unveiled in October at UP.Summit and combines the high …
Venus Aerospace, making hypersonic flight a reality for commercial and defense purposes, has achieved the first long-duration engine test of their Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) in partnership with DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). They have a detonation ramjet engine and a rotating detonation rocket engine. Venus Aerospace has raised over $48 million in …
The startup Hermeus is rapidly developing a hypersonic plane. They have begun testing their proprietary precooler technology with the Pratt & Whitney F100 engine. This video highlights some of our favorite camera angles from testing. What’s a precooler and why are they testing it? The Hermeus precooler increases the maximum speed of the turbine engine …
Three US soldiers were killed and dozen injured by a drone attack at Tower 22 base in Jordan. There have been other attacks on US bases in the region, but before Sunday there were no fatalities, according to the US military. There have been a total of over 160 attack on US bases and Navy …
There are reports of the IDF entering the tunnels in Gaza. They are using the LANIUS drones and other weapons. The LANIUS weapons systems moves close in tunnels and buildings. It can scout and map and also engage with explosive payloads. It can operate under a soldiers control or autonomously. Brian WangBrian Wang is a …
Kratos has provided a rendering of its Thanatos stealth drone. This is there most advanced design and is better than the XQ-58A Valkyrie drone. It will like be for the US Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft program (fighter and bomber wingman drone) or other advanced drone projects. The company has about $2 billion per year …
In December, 2022, Leidos ($13.7B annual revenue fortune 500 company) was awarded a $334 million contract to assist the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in developing an air-breathing hypersonic system. The Expendable Hypersonic Multi-mission ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) and Strike program, better known as Mayhem, will span a 51-month period of performance. The …
Kraken Technology Group and L3Harris Technologies have created advanced integration of control systems within the K40 MANTA submarine drone prototype. The K40 will be able to hold 1000 kilogram payload and operate autonomously for ten days. This is a pivotal step in the technical evolution of Kraken’s K40 MANTA platform, setting the foundation for the …
DARPA and Aurora, subsidiary of Boeing, are making a breakthrough X-plane without regular flights controls. The Control of Revolutionary Aircraft with Novel Effectors (CRANE) program aims to design, build, and flight test a novel X-plane that incorporates Active Flow Control (AFC) as a primary design consideration. Crane seeks to optimize the benefits of active flow …