Flight of Hermeus’ Mk 2.1 unmanned jet in May 2026. The aircraft achieved supersonic speeds. (Photo: Hermeus)
Hermeus on May 28 said it has received a $159 million contract modification from the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to demonstrate high-Mach flight and high-speed payload carry and release to aid the development of future military capabilities.
DIU in November 2023 awarded Hermeus a contract to mature its hypersonic aircraft technologies with a goal of flight testing its prototype Quarterhorse unmanned aircraft. The contract modification brings to $219 million the value of Hermeus’ work with DIU.
Hermeus in May 2025 achieved flight with its first remotely piloted Quarterhorse prototype, the Mk 1, and followed that success in March with the first flight of its Mk 2.1. Those flights were at subsonic speeds.
On May 26, Hermeus achieved supersonic flight with the F-16-scale Mk 2.1, a first for an unmanned aircraft (Defense Daily, May 26). The Mk 2.1 is powered by an RTX F100 engine.
The DIU contract helps enable additional flight tests this year and next to expand the performance limits of its unmanned prototype aircraft. Hermeus is building the Mk 2.2 and plans to build the Mk 2.3.
Hermeus is working with the Air Force and Navy on the increased scope under the latest DIU award. The goal is to “prove that uncrewed aircraft can reliably reach high-Mach speeds and release payloads in flight, establishing the technical foundation for future military use cases,” the Los Angeles-based startup said.
“This program is about moving high-Mach capability out of the lab and into an operationally relevant environment,” AJ Piplica, founder and CEO of Hermeus, said in a statement. “By delivering flight-ready aircraft and demonstrating payload release at speed, we will prove this technology can create a decisive military advantage on a timeline that matters.”
Data from the flight test campaign informs the military services’ experimentation efforts and future acquisitions, the company said.
“As you look towards the future, and the military problems we’re facing, the issues are generally around time and distance, and how do you get to these far-off places at a timeframe that matters,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Joseph “Solo” Kunkel, DIU’s military deputy, said in a statement. “If we can mass produce this, then it becomes a game-changing warfighting capability, where we use it as a weapon instead of a test platform, and I think we found a significant number of use cases where it can be used as a weapon.”
Hermeus’ work under the contract is part of DIU’s Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities initiative that leverages commercial flight test capabilities.
A version of this story originally appeared in sister publication Defense Daily.
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