Starfighters Space Advances “Wind Tunnel in the Sky” Mach 2+ Flight-Testing Platform
Reusable airborne platform designed to provide sustained real-atmosphere testing for advanced space, defense and hypersonic-development technologies
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Starfighters Space, Inc. (“Starfighters Space” or the “Company”) (NYSE American: FJET), the space company operating the world’s only commercial fleet of flight-ready Mach 2+ F-104 supersonic aircraft, today announced the next phase in development of “Wind Tunnel in the Sky,” a reusable airborne platform designed to help commercial, government, defense, and research customers evaluate advanced technologies during sustained Mach 2+ flight in real-world atmospheric conditions.
The Company is designing a unique underwing platform that is modular, reusable, and able to host a variety of sensors, test articles, and other payloads for long-duration exposure to both high-speed and low-gravity conditions. This underwing platform is expected to support aerodynamic test articles, avionics, sensors, communications systems, electronic equipment, advanced materials, and other technologies for hypersonic programs and microgravity research.
Leveraging the Company’s operational F-104 fleet, a typical 45-minute mission can include up to a 10-minute Mach 2+ test window, providing significantly longer exposure than traditional wind tunnel test runs—which typically can last only seconds at a time—and compressing what could otherwise take days of facility scheduling into a single flight.
“As demand for hypersonic and advanced aerospace systems continues to grow, access to specialized test infrastructure remains limited, increasing demand for complementary commercial flight-test capabilities,” said Tim Franta, CEO of Starfighters Space. “While ground wind tunnels remain essential for aerospace research and development, airborne testing can expose hardware to combinations of weather variation, vibration, acceleration, dynamic pressure, temperature and operational conditions that cannot always be fully reproduced in a fixed facility.”
Wind Tunnel in the Sky builds on Starfighters Space’s previous subsonic and supersonic flight-test experience, including testing conducted in support of its STARLAUNCH 1 demonstrator. As development progresses, the reusable platform is expected to expand commercial access to the Company’s F-104 fleet for testing for next-generation aerospace, defense and space technologies.
About Starfighters Space, Inc.
Starfighters Space (NYSE American: FJET), with a fleet of F-104 aircraft based at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Midland Air and Space Port in Texas, is the only company in the world with the commercial capability to fly at sustained Mach 2+ speeds for a variety of aerospace applications. The iconic F-104 jets are configurable as a platform for air-launched payloads, training for pilots, and to support RDT&E (research, development, test, and evaluation) for hypersonic technologies, missile defense systems, microgravity science, spaceflight hardware, advanced materials, and defense electronic systems.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented in this press release contains “forward-looking statements” as such term is used in applicable United States securities laws. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or the Company’s future financial or operational performance and may include statements regarding the proposed rule changes by the FAA relating to the regulation of supersonic flights, infrastructure expansion, mission readiness activities, commercial space development, hypersonic testing capabilities, future launch operations, operational scaling, and broader space market opportunities.
These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, risks associated with the ability to obtain the necessary permits and regulatory approvals, launch licensing requirements, operational execution, development timelines, competitive market conditions, customer adoption, capital requirements, space and defense industry conditions, government contracting risks, macroeconomic conditions, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s filings with the SEC.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy the Company’s securities.
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