Hermeus

Hermeus is introducing Ramjet-X, a low-cost, expendable ramjet-powered vehicle designed for launch from its Quarterhorse aircraft . The intended users are defense programs and hardware teams that need sustained high-Mach flight time but cannot justify a bespoke test campaign for every experiment. Customers and partners will be able to integrate payloads, sensors, communications and compute systems, autonomy, material samples, propulsion technologies, and other experimental hardware and software onto Ramjet-X for testing in representative sustained high-Mach conditions. By providing a repeatable platform, launch architecture, and flight-test infrastructure, Hermeus can allow customers to focus on the technology being evaluated rather than developing a bespoke high-speed flight vehicle and test program for every experiment. The launch matters because it changes the economics of a testing regime that has stalled US high-speed programs for decades. Ramjets require significant initial speed before they can operate effectively. Instead of relying on a large, expensive, expendable booster for every test, Hermeus will use its reusable Quarterhorse aircraft to carry Ramjet-X to the speed and altitude required for launch. That air-launch approach turns each Quarterhorse sortie into a reusable first stage, and per imagery released with the announcement, a Quarterhorse can carry a Ramjet-X mounted on a pylon under each wing, indicating that two different high-speed tests can be carried out in a single sortie . Hermeus was founded in 2018 by AJ Piplica, Zach Shore, Skyler Shuford, Glenn Case, and Mike Smayda , with Shore now serving as CEO and authoring the launch announcement. Development is already progressing on multiple fronts, with Hermeus testing Ramjet-X's ramjet engine at its HEAT facility in Jacksonville, Florida, while high-temperature structures are in development at its headquarters in El Segundo, California. Integrated vehicle testing is currently planned for 2027.