Stratolaunch Talon-A Autonomous Hypersonic Aircraft

Stratolaunch Talon-A Autonomous Hypersonic Aircraft - TheArsenale

Stratolaunch is the name behind the world's biggest plane and now they are showing us their plans to build a hypersonic vehicled aimed at testing advanced flight technologies. Called the Talon-A, the aircraft can be fitted with different payloads and has the capability of running repeated tests for hypersonic flight technologies. 

Measuring 8.5m and a wingspan of 3.4m, the Talon-A weighs 2,722kg which is quite light for an aircraft. It can take off autonomously from a conventional runway and it can then return to the runway once it completes its mission. It can also be fitted to the carrier aircraft of the company which would drop it at 10,000m of altitude. This will allow the Talon-A to collect data thanks to the cluster of instruments on its board which can then be analyzed upon its return to base.