Nichols Martin
Stratolaunch has secured a contract to perform hypersonic threat research work for the Missile Defense Agency in an effort to help MDA explore threat engagement and interception approaches.
Daniel Millman, chief technology officer of Stratolaunch, said in a statement released Wednesday the company will work to provide MDA a target system that can replicate and represent a hypersonic threat.
The Mojave, California-based aerospace technology provider is working to finish test flights with its Roc carrier aircraft and reported progress in the development of Talon-A test vehicles.
TA-0 and TA-1 are reusable autonomous test platforms designed to deploy from Roc and carry payloads while flying at a speed of more than Mach 5.
The TA-1 system is slated to undergo a power-on testing process before the year ends and will continue with hypersonic flight testing in 2022.
Stratolaunch expects TA-1 to be ready for government and commercial use by 2023.
