Hermeus Quarterhorse Achieves First Supersonic Flight

Hermeus completed the first supersonic test flight of its Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 aircraft, reaching a top speed of Mach 2.1. The Mk 2.1 achieved supersonic flight on just its third test flight from Spaceport America over White Sands Missile Range airspace.

Hermeus, an Atlanta-based startup developing a hypersonic passenger aircraft, completed the first supersonic flight of Mk 2.1 just 364 days after the maiden flight of its first aircraft, Mk 1.

“Our customers at the Department of War are paying close attention to how fast this program is moving,” said AJ Piplica, CEO and co-founder of Hermeus. “This flight demonstrates a pace of execution that is extremely rare in modern aviation. Our country’s ability to deliver new asymmetric military capability at scale depends on teams that can solve hard technical challenges quickly. That’s exactly what we’re proving with each test flight we conduct and each new aircraft we build at Hermeus.”

Watch the video above to learn more about this flight-test milestone for Hermeus.