The Absolute Fastest Aircraft on Earth?

In the bustling Atlanta, Georgia, facility of the pioneering aerospace startup Hermeus Corporation, a crack team of scientists and engineers armed with a vast array of high-performance power tools make all-important tweaks to their revolutionary new aircraft, the Quarterhorse. Having already developed the turbine-based combined cycle Chimera engine, a machine as innovative as it is powerful, Hermeus is now busy creating the perfect vehicle to put its abilities to the test.

A sleek, sophisticated jet of the future, the Quarterhorse is being built with one clear objective: speed. As the prototypes zoom through the clouds at hypersonic velocities, pushing the limits of aviation technology, the Quarterhorse keeps its eye on the grand prize: the airspeed record set by the Blackbird SR-71 in 1976. Nearly 50 years later, the Blackbird remains number one, with no aircraft able to better its impressive feat. Yet, as the Quarterhorse project steams ahead, it seems there may finally be a challenger for the Blackbird’s crown.

[williamrogge]

Without a pilot, the existing record cannot be broken.

[rmorgan]

Kelly Johnson was th GOAT !!
It is taking over 50+ years to break his records, says something!!
Bring back real men!!

[OrginalDravas]

Quarter Horse breaks the SR71 record and the air force pulls a SR71 out of mothballs and its allowed to go its full speed

[KRYTEN]

I hope there's a kit version in the works..

[richwalter]

Are we forgetting the X15 and the records it set??

[hobbyfarmer]

First will believe it beats the SR71 when I see it, and only once it attains that speed in a full size manned version will I think it has beaten it not before. The speed of an unmanned machine doesn't face the same limitations as a manned craft so not the same thing.

this new aircraft shouldn't even have the opportunity for the attempt to break the record on the count that its unmanned

[justaperson]

If it’s not a manned aircraft then the record can’t be broken

[shenmisheshou]

This will not be commercially viable unless it can carry over 250 passengers, which is highly unlikely. The problem is found in two words: Gates, and Slots. If you can only carry 100 passengers, it will take take you four trips to carry the same number of one Airbus A350. What that means is that you will need for landing slots and four gate visits. The A350 needs one landing slot and one gate. Also, the hub and spoke model means that if you only being in 100 passengers, your slower planes can't be filled to the same capacity and make your arrival/departure window for the connecting flights. As an executive jet, a hypersonic might have some appear, but the commercial airliners can't really get enough use out of this kind of plane to want to buy it. It is gates and slots that will keep this plane from being successful in the commercial market unless they can get at least 200 seats and baggage, and that would be quite an engineering feat. The Lear Jet could go faster than the Cessna Citation, but even though the Citation was slower, it could land at far more airports and carry more people. When the Citation came out, critics said it just was not fast enough to compete with Lear, but in two years, Lear sales plummeted, and the Citation line became the most successful business jet line in history. Speed is not everything.

[makschorney]

I hate to be the one to say it, but it is a story i have heard before, many times in my 65 years...

[connorschlick]

I would love to work with the Hermeus team on this one. Truly pushing the bounds of aviation

[chuckz]

Mock-ups, aspirations, wind tunnels, bla bla bla. I’ll care when it actually flies and lives up to the hype

[auro]

so they are making a missile with jet engine?

[gmck]

Carefully avoiding mentioning the X-51A Waverider that sustained Mach 5.1 (3, 400 mph) in 2013. Wouldn't look good to investors to know that the supposedly "impossible record" was broken more than ten years ago. Not to mention all those Russian "hypersonic cruise missiles" that are being used routinely in the war in Ukraine.

[larshowen]

They need to angle that puppie down and go for the land speed record at the Bonneville salt flats.

[Naudia]

Love this Investor Presentation, the cucumber water is a nice touch 😂

[Walter-wosz]

I've seen contrails of aircraft flying so high there wasn't a sonic boom streak across the sky at what must be hypersonic speeds. People just don't look up.

[robertbe]

Loved this one! I’ve never heard of this project.

[thelittlesignpost]

Soon, we will be able to travel at the speed of light, but until then, keep us posted on the progress of this project team and their innovations!

[jonnywatts]

Wonder how they're planning on getting past the sonic boom issue.