{"id":2199,"date":"2026-01-06T14:59:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T14:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/starfighters-space-demonstrates-commercial-supersonic-flight-in-ge-aerospace-test-program\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T14:59:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T14:59:31","slug":"starfighters-space-demonstrates-commercial-supersonic-flight-in-ge-aerospace-test-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/starfighters-space-demonstrates-commercial-supersonic-flight-in-ge-aerospace-test-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Starfighters Space Demonstrates Commercial Supersonic Flight in GE Aerospace Test Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Starfighters<\/p>\n

Starfighters Space<\/strong>, the innovative aerospace company, owner and operator of the world’s largest fleet of commercial supersonic aircraft, announced that it recently completed a successful supersonic flight test campaign for GE Aerospace<\/strong>, in which a Starfighters aircraft carried and flew an advanced propulsion test vehicle multiple times at supersonic speeds. This successfully completed campaign highlights Starfighters\u2019 rapidly growing relevance as a publicly listed provider of commercially available flight test services.<\/p>\n

As part of GE Aerospace\u2019s Atmospheric Test of Launched Air-breathing System (ATLAS) program, a Starfighters F-104 aircraft was used to conduct three (3) successful supersonic captive carry flights from Kennedy Space Center. During the campaign, the ATLAS flight test vehicle achieved supersonic speeds, supporting the advancement of solid fuel ramjet (SFRJ) propulsion technology. Starfighters believes its fleet of F-104s is the only such fleet in the free world that can fly test payloads that are mounted underwing at speeds greater than MACH 2, or greater than 1,500 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

\n

Also Read: What is Space Propulsion System?<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

Led by GE Aerospace, the flights demonstrated Starfighters\u2019 ability to deliver commercially available, rapidly repeatable supersonic flight services in support of customer-funded aerospace and defense development programs. \u201cFor customers developing next-generation propulsion and aerospace systems, access to flight-proven supersonic platforms is essential,\u201d said  Rick Svetkoff<\/strong>, CEO of Starfighters Space<\/strong><\/span>. \u201cThese missions not only validate our business model, but also demonstrate the advanced capabilities of our aircraft, our flight operations team, and our ability to support complex test campaigns through contracted flight services.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Starfighters team provided a reliable, flight-ready supersonic platform that enabled us to conduct multiple captive carry flights in realistic atmospheric conditions,\u201d said Mark Rettig<\/strong>, Vice President and General Manager of Edison Works Business & Technology Development at GE Aerospace<\/strong>. \u201cCommercially operated test aircraft like Starfighters play an important role in accelerating development timelines by allowing repeatable, flexible flight testing outside of traditional range constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commercial Relevance and Path to Revenue<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The ATLAS campaign reflects a broader demand environment in which aerospace and defense developers increasingly require faster, more flexible access to flight testing outside of traditional government ranges and long-lead launch schedules. Starfighters\u2019 business model is designed to address this need by providing mission-specific supersonic flight services under customer agreements, rather than pursuing speculative technology development.<\/p>\n

Each completed test campaign strengthens the Company\u2019s track record, supports aircraft utilisation, and positions Starfighters for follow-on programs, repeat customers, and expanded mission scope across propulsion testing, systems validation, training, and space-adjacent applications.<\/p>\n

The ATLAS program is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense under Title III of the Defense Production Act and is intended to advance air-breathing propulsion technologies capable of enhanced speed, range, and responsiveness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Starfighters Space, the innovative aerospace company, owner and operator of the world’s largest fleet of commercial supersonic aircraft, announced that it recently completed a successful supersonic flight test campaign for GE Aerospace, in which a Starfighters aircraft carried and flew an advanced propulsion test vehicle multiple times at supersonic speeds. This successfully completed campaign highlights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[83,25,49],"class_list":["post-2199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-aerospace-defense","tag-launch","tag-propulsion-systems"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}