Hermeus

Type| Private
Industry| Aerospace
Founded| 2018
Founder| AJ Piplica (CEO)
Skyler Shuford (COO)
Glenn Case (CTO)
Mike Smayda (CPO)
Headquarters| Atlanta, Georgia

Number of locations

| 4
Website| hermeus.com

Hermeus Corporation is an American startup company designing a hypersonic airliner.[1]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Products
* 3 Design
* 4 Development
* 4.1 Quarterhorse
* 4.2 Darkhorse
* 5 Testing
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 External links

## History

The company was founded in 2018[2] with initial funding led by Khosla Ventures.[3]

In 2021, Hermeus secured $60 million in funding from the U.S. Air Force and venture capital to support the Quarterhorse flight test program.[4]

In March 2022, the company raised a $100 million series B investment round led by Sam Altman.[5] Other investors included Founders Fund, In-Q-Tel, and existing investors Khosla Ventures, Canaan Partners, and Bling Capital.

## Products

The Quarterhorse aircraft under development is planned to reach Mach 5 with a range of 4,600 miles (7,400 km).[6] The company claims to have designed, built, and successfully tested a Mach 5 engine prototype.[7] In August 2020, Hermeus received a $1.5 million contract from the United States Air Force to develop their proposed aircraft and function as a possible Air Force One.[8]

They are building the supersonic Quarterhorse Mk 2 with an advanced engine based on the Pratt & Whitney F100. Quarterhorse Mk 2 is expected to hit speeds greater than Mach 2.5.

## Design

The engine adds a precooler to a standard Pratt & Whitney F100[clarification needed]. The precooler lowers the temperature of incoming air, preventing the melting of engine parts and allowing the engine to be more efficient.[9]

The Chimera engine is a turbine-based combined cycle machine that combines a pre-cooled turbine with a ramjet. It was successfully tested in November 2022.[10][11] It is planned to power the Quarterhorse Mk 3, which will reach speeds close to Mach 1. Upon reaching sufficient speed, Chimera routes incoming air around the turbojet and the ramjet takes over at around Mach 3.[12][10][13]

## Development

### Quarterhorse

The Quarterhorse development program[13][14] has four stages:[15]

* MK 0: A non-flying prototype to validate all major aircraft subsystems.
* Mk 1: The first flyable version.
* Mk 2: Supersonic speeds in 2025.
* Mk 3: Incorporates Chimera II propulsion system, targeting faster than Mach 3.3.

### Darkhorse

Darkhorse is an uncrewed hypersonic military jet intended for mass production.

## Testing

In August 2024, Hermeus completed low-speed taxi tests,[16][17] and in May 2025 the Quarterhorse Mk 1 flew a successful flight test at Edwards AFB. At the same time it was reported that the Mk2 was already well into its manufacturing process.[18]

## See also

* Aerion
* Boom Supersonic
* Exosonic
* Spike Aerospace

## References

1. ↑ Insinna, Valerie (2024-03-28). "Hermeus rolls out new uncrewed aircraft as company edges toward goal of hypersonic flight" (in en-US). https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03/hermeus-rolls-out-new-uncrewed-aircraft-as-company-edges-toward-goal-of-hypersonic-flight/.
2. ↑ "Hermeus wins seed funding for hypersonic aircraft, with former Blue Origin president as adviser". 13 May 2019. https://www.geekwire.com/2019/hermeus-wins-seed-funding-hypersonic-aircraft-former-blue-origin-president-adviser/. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
3. ↑ Berger, Eric (13 May 2019). "Hermeus announces plan to build the fastest aircraft in the world" (in en-us). Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/05/hermeus-announces-plan-to-build-the-fastest-aircraft-in-the-world/. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
4. ↑ Hermeus begins testing the Quarterhorse Mk 0 prototype. Journal Military. n.d. Retrieved October 6, 2024 - via YouTube.
5. ↑ Sheetz, Michael (2022-03-10). "Hypersonic aircraft start-up Hermeus raises $100 million to finish prototype, build out fleet" (in en). https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/10/hypersonic-aircraft-startup-hermeus-raises-100-million.html.
6. ↑ "Hermeus | Hypersonic Aircraft Startup | Atlanta" (in en). https://www.hermeus.com/. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
7. ↑ "Aug 06, 2020" (in en). August 6, 2020. https://www.hermeus.com/aug-06-2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
8. ↑ Niles, Russ (6 September 2020). "Air Force Eying Supersonic Air Force One". AVweb. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/air-force-eying-supersonic-air-force-one/. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
9. ↑ Szondy, David (2024-05-16). "Video: Hermeus hypersonic aircraft gathers speed with precooler test". NEW ATLAS. https://newatlas.com/aircraft/heremeus-hypersonic-aircraft/.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "PART TURBINE, PART RAMJET". Hermeus. https://www.hermeus.com/chimera.
11. ↑ "Hermeus Completes Hypersonic Milestone With Engine Tests". November 17, 2022. https://www.hermeus.com/press-release-tbcc-milestone.
12. ↑ Blain, Loz (2023-01-24). "Turbojet to hypersonic ramjet: Hybrid Chimera engine shows its range". NEW ATLAS. https://newatlas.com/aircraft/hermeus-chimera-hypersonic-test.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Wang, Brian (2024-08-08). "Precooled F-100 Engine Combined with Ramjet for Hypersonic Drone and Jets". https://nextbigfuture.substack.com/p/precooled-f-100-engine-combined-with-ramjet-for-hypersonic-drone-and-jetshtml?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2381939&post_id=147493874&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=stzh&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email.
14. ↑ "Quarterhorse |High-Speed Flight Test Aircraft". n.d.. https://www.hermeus.com/quarterhorse. Retrieved October 6, 2024.
15. ↑ "QUARTERHORSE" (in en-US). https://www.hermeus.com/quarterhorse.
16. ↑ "Hermeus Marks Progress With Quarterhorse Taxi Testing". August 23, 2024. https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/emerging-technologies/hermeus-marks-progress-quarterhorse-taxi-testing.
17. ↑ Hermeus Completes Testing of Quarterhorse Mk 0 Vehicle. Hermeus. n.d. Retrieved October 6, 2024 - via YouTube.
18. ↑ https://avgeekery.com/quarterhorse-mk-1-test-flight/

## External links

* Official website
* McManus, Brian (February 29, 2024). "This Could Be The Next Air Force One – Hermeus". Real Engineering. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyKtxsdI0z8.
* Quarterhorse: The Future of Hypersonic Flight. Megaprojects. Simon Whistler. 13 May 2024. hgNjLLNirRo on YouTube.

* v
* t
* e

Supersonic transport

* Civil aviation
* Supersonic aircraft
* list

Withdrawn
from service|

* Concorde
* Tupolev Tu-144

Historic
projects|

| Airliners|

* Boeing 2707
* Bristol Type 223
* Convair Model 58-9
* Douglas 2229
* High Speed Civil Transport
* LAPCAT
* Lockheed L-2000
* Rockwell X-30
* Sud Aviation Super-Caravelle
* Tupolev Tu-244

|

Business jets|

* Aerion SBJ
* SAI Quiet Supersonic Transport
* Sukhoi-Gulfstream S-21
* Tupolev Tu-444

Current
projects|

| Airliners|

* HyperMach SonicStar
* Next Generation Supersonic Transport
* Reaction Engines A2
* Zero Emission Hyper Sonic Transport
* Boom Technology Boom

|

Business jets|

* Aerion AS2
* Gulfstream X-54
* Spike S-512

See also|

* Boom XB-1 Baby Boom
* Lockheed Martin X-59 QueSST
* Quiet Spike

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