Hypersonic

Lockheed Martin's PAC-3 interceptor missile family has stepped up a notch with its PAC-3 Edge variant. Boasting an improved rocket motor for extended range, the new interceptor is built to engage hypersonic glide vehicles and advanced aerial threats.

Lockheed Martin is moving the US hypersonic missile program a step closer to production with the announcement that it has begun work on its Next Generation Glide Body (NXGB), a new hypersonic vehicle designed for low-cost, large-scale manufacturing.

The US Air Force is stomping on the accelerator to field advanced hypersonic missiles as the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Ursa Major announce the successful completion of a flight test of the mass-producible Draper liquid rocket engine.

Australia's Hypersonix Launch Systems has made a historic launch of its next-generation DART AE hypersonic aircraft from Wallops Island, Virginia. Taking off aboard Rocket Lab's HASTE launch vehicle, the DART AE reached a top speed of Mach 8.

Aerospace and defense company Ursa Major aims to bring greater containment and control to hypersonic flight with its HAVOC missile – a medium-range vehicle capable of flying in excess of Mach 5, yet designed for low cost and high-volume production.

Two revolutionary aerospace technologies collide as GE Aerospace and Lockheed Martin team up to demonstrate a new liquid-fueled rotating-detonation ramjet (RDRJ) designed to close the "efficiency gap" in hypersonic flight with new tactical inlets.

Hypersonic vehicles aren't much use if you don't know where they're going, so Northrop Grumman is developing new navigation systems for autonomous craft that can stand up to the rigors of flying at speeds of over Mach 5.

What has zero moving parts, yet can blast an aerial vehicle to velocities beyond Mach 5? The answer is the recently flight-tested Atmospheric Test of Launched Airbreathing System (ATLAS) powered by a new solid-fueled ramjet built by GE Aerospace.

More than 20 years after the last commercial Concorde flight, President Trump has signed an executive order to repeal the ban on supersonic flight over land across the US. That paves the way for companies building the ultra-fast planes of the future.

Hermeus seems dead keen on fast-tracking its way to hypersonic passenger flight. Its uncrewed subsonic Quarterhorse Mark 1 prototype has completed its maiden flight in the skies over Edwards Air Force Base in California on May 21, 2025.

In what may be a world first, Venus Aerospace has, for the first time in the US, successfully flown a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE) that uses supersonic explosions to create thrust. Such engines could help propel future hypersonic vehicles.

Looking like something out of Minecraft, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force has released a new image of its latest electromagnetic railgun being developed by the Acquisition, Technology, & Logistics Agency (ATLA) to counter hypersonic missiles.