CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, December 1, 2023 – Starfighters Space Inc. (“Starfighters” or the “Company”), the only commercial company in the world with the capability to fly at sustained MACH 2 along with the capability to launch targeted altitude payloads, is pleased to announce it is moving ahead in its role as a subcontractor to Innoveering, a General Electric (GE) Aerospace company with participation in the Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities (HyCAT) initiative under the auspices of the Defense innovation Unit (DIU) and the Department of Defense (DoD).
Starfighters’ portion of the program is scheduled to kickoff on December 12, 2023, at the Space Life Sciences Lab on the Kennedy Space Center.
DIU started the HyCAT initiative in early 2023 to address the need for low-cost, high-cadence test capabilities for the hypersonic community. DIU awarded a contract to Innoveering, a GE Aerospace company, for the prototype of an affordable air-launched air-breathing hypersonic testbed. With subcontractors Specter Aerospace and Starfighters International, Innoveering will mature the design, conduct supporting modeling and simulation, and perform system integration to deliver a robust, hypersonic mission in the coming years.
Additional contractors include Hermeus Corps and NXRTAC. Hermeus brings a technical focus on turbine-based combined cycle propulsion and a pathway for dual-use, reusable hypersonic flight aircraft. NXTRAC aims to commercialize high performance, mass producible Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) solutions. Other program partners include Hypersonix and RocketLabs participation in the initial baseline test as well as Fenix Space Inc., a reusable tow-launch provider who completed integrated concept design and initial flight trajectories for the hypersonic experimental cruise platforms.
Company President & CEO Rick Svetkoff notes, “The GE Innoveering teams selected us due to our unique abilities and proven experience with high altitude supersonic payload delivery. Wind tunnel time for hypersonic research is very limited within the United States, and our fleet allows us to effectively deliver practical data results quickly and predictably.”
“It’s fantastic to work with a lean, highly focused, and innovative subsidiary of a company that has the resources of a parent company such as GE,” adds Starfighter’s Svetkoff. “Supporting these specific programs is just the start. We plan on working together as a long-term test bed with both GE and the broader hypersonic research community at large.”
This advisory includes content, excerpts, and background from a DIU update dated November 12, 2023.
ON BEHALF OF STARFIGHTERS SPACE
“Rick Svetkoff”
Rick Svetkoff
President, CEO and Founder
For more information:
Starfighters Space Relations
Tel: +1 321-261-0900
info@starfightersspace.com
www.starfightersspace.com
About The Defense Innovation Unit
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) strengthens national security by accelerating the adoption of commercial technology throughout the military and bolstering allied and national security innovation bases. DIU partners with organizations across the Department of Defense (DoD) to rapidly prototype and field dual-use capabilities that solve operational challenges at speed and scale. With offices in Silicon Valley, Boston, Austin, Chicago and inside the Pentagon, DIU is the Department’s gateway to leading technology companies across the country. Find out more at: www.diu.mil.
About Starfighters Space
Starfighters Space Inc. is the only commercial company in the world with the capability to fly at sustained MACH 2 with the capability to launch payloads to space. Starfighters Space is an established organization committed to participating in high-demand commercial space activities. Located at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Company operates a fleet of seven supersonic F-104 jet aircraft operationally configurable to act as the first stage lifting platform to carry payloads up to 45,000 feet for air launch to space. Additional activities include support research, pilot training, space flight training, and advanced scientific efforts including hypersonic testing as part of air launch partner development programs. Starfighters Space is market-ready with minimal R&D effort and is working to position its capability to become the most cost-effective launch provider in the sector. For more information visit: https://starfightersspace.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements and other statements that are not historical facts. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, in this document that address activities, events, or developments that Starfighters Space, Inc. (the “Company”) or a third party expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including but not limited to the investment opportunity, the future growth and valuation of the aerospace industry, the Company’s future growth, the future diversification of the Company’s revenue streams and the assumptions underlying any of the foregoing, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s current beliefs and are based on information currently available to the Company and assumptions the Company believes are reasonable, including information and assumptions about the Company’s ability to obtain the necessary permits and approvals to operate, the Company’s ability to develop new products, market trends and competition in the Company’s industry, effects of the COVID-19 public health crisis and future sales of the Company’s securities. Actual results and developments may differ materially from results and developments discussed in the forward-looking statements as they are subject to a number of significant risks and uncertainties. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are beyond the Company’s control. Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements are qualified by these cautionary statements, and there can be no assurances that the actual results or developments will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effect on, the Company. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by applicable law.
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