Quarterhorse Hypersonic Drone to Hit Mach 5

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

The idea of a hypersonic drone has long-been on the radar for Pentagon weapons developers, yet sustaining hypersonic speeds at unprecedented high temperature has presented barriers for many years. Now, breakthroughs may be approaching with a number of key initiatives, including the possibility of the Hermeus Quarterhorse, a drone reportedly able to travel at sustained hypersonic speeds. Such a development would truly be paradigm changing, and the developers of Quarterhourse believe the platform will be able to sustain speeds greater than Mach 5.  Furthermore, the plan is to not only deploy a hypersonic drone but also hit breakthrough hypersonic speeds for manned-flight, a milestone which has for years seemed almost unattainable. 

The SR-71 spy plane’s Mach 3 speed record has held up as unbroken for decades.

Yet, there is an innovator in Atlanta, Ga. seeking to rival this with a first-of-its-kind hypersonic vehicle called Quarterhorse now being prepared to fly hypersonic speeds of Mach 5 or greater.

The Hermeus Quarterhorse recently achieved a massive breakthrough transition where it demonstrated the ability to shift from turbo-jet to ramjet propulsion mode to achieve hypersonic speeds.

The breakthrough, detailed in Popular Mechanics, describes the creation of a new turbojet-scramjet hybrid engine capable of achieving and then sustaining hypersonic speeds.

The article suggests Hermeus is working on an unmanned drone but does anticipate being able to transport humans at hypersonic speeds.

This would indeed be paradigm-changing as humans have thus far been unable to travel at hypersonic speeds due to an inability to survive the extreme heat generated by hypersonic flight.