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The company’s TBCC powertrain will include a General Electric J85 turbojet, as used in the T-38 Talon trainer jet, and will be validated in the Quarterhorse aircraft, three of which are planned. These unmanned test planes will be approximately 40 feet long with a wingspan of 10 feet. A first test flight is expected in only about 18 months.
Under the terms of the Air Force contract, Hermeus is to flight test a reusable hypersonic propulsion system, then develop, build and test the three Quarterhorse concept planes, all over a three-year period. In addition, the company is to “provide a payload integration guide for future hypersonic flight tests with Quarterhorse” and provide “wargaming inputs for use in Air Force strategic analysis tools”.
“When it comes to technology, we often hear the term ‘game changer’,” Major General Heather Pringle, commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, said in a press release from the service. “However, hypersonic planes and propulsion systems are a real game-changer and will revolutionize the way we travel, just like automobiles have done in the last century. We are excited to be a part of this effort and to help propel this important technology. “
If successful, the Quarterhorse could provide “a stepping stone to more intermediates,” said Skyler Shuford, one of the founders of Hermeus and now COO. Defense 1. Afterward, the company hopes to board a larger airliner, the type that could carry paying passengers across the Atlantic or bring the president or high-ranking officials to meetings in a potentially short time. record.
The contract award was made as part of the AFWERX Innovation Initiative, a technology incubator established in 2017 by the Air Force to leverage commercial technology for the benefit of the military. Specifically, the budget is made available through the Strategic Funding Increase Program (STRATFI) led by the Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. The latter organization is, in turn, responsible for acquiring and supporting the Air Force’s current and next-generation VIP aircraft, including the upcoming Air Force One. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is also participating in the financing of the Hermeus contract.
The latest contract comes almost exactly one year after a previous Air Force SBIR Phase II contract worth $ 1.5 million was awarded to Hermeus to continue work on hypersonic travel after the company successfully tested a prototype Mach-5 engine in February 2020.
The two contracts are part of a larger effort led by the Presidential and Executive Directorate of Air Transport to “fuel the booming commercial resurgence of high-speed passenger travel,” according to the Air Force, in which it described as the Vector Initiative. In addition to Hermeus, the Presidential and Executive Airlift team have partnered with Boom Supersonic and Exosonic to explore different possibilities for high-speed travel.
“Partnering with small businesses is recognized by the US Air Force as an important element in driving innovation,” said Lt. Col. Joshua Burger, Vector Initiative program manager. “Risk reduction in high-speed transportation technologies, as we are doing with this contract, offers short- and long-term benefits to both the US Air Force and the defense industrial base. We are very happy to see Hermeus translate their demonstrated successes in prototyping engines into flight systems. “
For his part, Hermeus says he is convinced that the relatively small sum of $ 60 million will be sufficient to test his TBCC engine in flight “over the entire flight envelope”. The company says it will achieve this ambition by “leveraging stand-alone, reusable systems, ruthlessly targeted requirements and a hardware-rich program,” but did not provide further details. Not only will the Quarterhorse be unmanned, but it looks like at least some of the test specimens, or components thereof, should be edible, with the company claiming it will “push the boundaries, sometimes strategically to the point. ‘at the point of failure in flight. test.”
Ultimately, the goal is to run a higher risk test program that can be completed faster, thus reducing the overall costs of the program.
Once the Quarterhorse aircraft proves the TBCC engine technology, the company hopes to be able to further develop it for commercial and military applications, or what the company calls “dual-use space for hypersonic technology.” . So far, Hermeus has spoken of his ambition to fly a passenger plane from New York to London in just 90 minutes, flying at a speed of Mach 5, or around 3,000 miles an hour. Despite the promise of these fast global connections, there remains the sonic boom problem and the noise problem that saw the ban on supersonic commercial flights over land introduced in the 1970s.
“While this partnership with the US Air Force underscores the US Department of Defense’s interest in hypersonic aircraft, when paired with Hermeus’ partnership with NASA announced in February 2021, it is clear that it There are commercial and defense applications for what we are building, ”said Hermeus CEO and co-founder AJ Piplica.
For the Air Force, while the Presidential and Executive Airlift mission is at the forefront of its stated interest in reusable hypersonic aircraft, there is clearly also the possibility of using the same technology, and in in particular TBCC motors, also for other applications. .
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