Stratolaunch Awarded Flight Test Contract for the Navy's MACH-TB Hypersonic Program

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Nov 28, 2023, 10:44 ET

MOJAVE, Calif., Nov. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Stratolaunch, LLC announces the receipt of a flight test contract award from Leidos, the prime contractor for the Navy's Multiservice Advanced Capability Test Bed (MACH-TB). The contract award is funded by Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Crane Division through the Strategic and Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems (S²MARTS) Other Transaction Agreement (OTA). This contract award funds five Talon-A hypersonic flights and optional payloads.

Roc and Talon-A 0 (TA-0) soar as one during a separation test on May 13, 2023. Credit: Stratolaunch

NSWC Crane's MACH-TB program focuses on hypersonic flight testing using robust, agile, and modular approaches. The Leidos-led team intends to deliver an affordable solution, leveraging commercial launch vehicles, including Stratolaunch's Talon-A hypersonic vehicle, for flight testing hypersonic payloads. The data collected is designed to provide insight to the DoD on technology improvement and capability validation. Early, affordable, and regular hypersonic flight testing is key to robust and successful developments of hypersonic capabilities.

Stratolaunch's Talon-A, a reusable autonomous hypersonic vehicle, operates as a high-cadence, high-speed testbed to advance the MACH-TB program development. Stratolaunch's hypersonic contractor-owned and operated flight test service directly complements the goals of MACH-TB.

"We're excited for the opportunity for Talon-A flights to support the goals of the MACH-TB program and to deepen our partnership with the Dynetics team," said Dr. Zachary Krevor, Chief Executive Officer and President for Stratolaunch. "The Stratolaunch team is persistently committed to the advancement of hypersonic capabilities for our nation."

Andy Crocker, Leidos Program Manager for MACH-TB, said, "Leidos is delighted to have Stratolaunch join the team that's working to provide fast and affordable hypersonic flight test capabilities to the nation. Using air launch and the Talon-A reusable vehicle offers unique opportunities to advance the maturity of hypersonic technologies."

About Stratolaunch
Stratolaunch's mission is to advance high-speed technology through innovative design, manufacturing, and operation of world-class aerospace vehicles. For the latest news and information, visit www.stratolaunch.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

About Leidos
Leidos is a Fortune 500^® technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company's 46,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $14.4 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2022. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

Certain statements in this announcement constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. These statements are not guarantees of future results or occurrences. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements, or industry results to be different from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the "Risk Factors" set forth in Leidos' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2022, and other such filings that Leidos makes with the SEC from time to time. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Leidos does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statements were made.

SOURCE Stratolaunch