Kacey Roberts
Leidos has awarded a subcontract to Stratolaunch to conduct flight tests in support of the Multiservice Advanced Capability Test Bed program of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division.
The contract award covers five flights involving Stratolaunch’s reusable, autonomous Talon-A hypersonic vehicles and optional payloads, prime contractor Leidos said Tuesday.
The MACH-TB program is focused on using robust, agile and modular approaches in testing hypersonic flights.
Leidos, alongside its partners, aims to achieve cost-effective testing by using commercial launch vehicles. Under the subcontract, Stratolaunch’s Talon-A will serve as a high-cadence, high-speed testbed for the program’s advancement.
The data collected during the tests will help the Defense Department improve and validate capabilities.
