The reusable hypersonic plane

The United States Army has just completed not one, but two successful hypersonic flights in less than 3 months with a drone, the aircraft was launched from the largest aircraft in the world and reached more than 6,000 km/h five times the speed of sound, this is the TA-2, a bold project that marks the beginning of a new era in weapons testing, where extreme speed and reusability go hand in hand.

The TA-2 was developed by the Stratolaunch company with the aim of creating an autonomous and reusable hypersonic test platform, it is powered by a headley rocket engine powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene capable of generating more than 2,200 kg of thrust, enough power to exceed the match 5 mark something close to 6,200 km/h and it all begins with the Roc, the largest aircraft in the world in wingspan with 117 m from tip to tip. It is from this mother ship that the TA-2 is launched over the Pacific Ocean, gaining altitude and accelerating to hypersonic speeds before landing autonomously at the Vandenberg Space Base in California.

The difference of the TA-2 is not only in the speed, it is in the reusability, during the tests carried out in December 2024 and March 2025 the drone was able to take off, reach its maximum speed and execute separation, ignition and deceleration maneuvers and still land safely all autonomously, according to Stratolaunch this represents a great advance in reducing testing frequency costs and of course in preparing for future conflicts that require very high speed reactions.

Although it was not specified in the communications, it is evident that advanced AI-based navigation and control systems are being integrated into the TA-2, it is that integrated intelligence that allows the perfect separation of the Roc, the control of acceleration in the transition between flight regimes and automatic landing with precision, all this creates a scenario in which critical decisions can be automated in real time even in electronic warfare environments or total communications blackout.

Initially the Roc was conceived to launch satellites, but since the death of its founder Paul Allen and the purchase of the company by Cerberus Capital Management and Stratolaunch it has begun to focus on hypersonic defense and the TA-2 is not alone, TA-3, its successor is already scheduled to fly at the end of this year, it will be launched from another adapted aircraft, the Cosmic Girl, a Boeing 747 that the company acquired after the collapse of virgin orbit.

With this new fleet, the United States intends to test impersonic weapons guided by agile, precise and unrepeatable means, which could completely redefine strategic defense standards in the coming years. TA-2 may seem like just another piece in the military chess, but it represents something bigger, the renaissance of reusable hypersonic aviation in the United States, something that has not been seen since the times of the legendary x50 and the 60s.

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