Partnership launched: Aerospace companies join to develop spaceplane technology and drones that fly five times faster than the speed of sound

Cummings Aerospace and ATRX to develop supersonic and hypersonic unmanned aircraft

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Feb. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Cummings Aerospace and ATRX signed an agreement to collaborate on the development of high-speed unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The companies will work together to integrate a high-speed turbo-rocket onto a proven airframe with the goal of developing affordable UAS that can fly at supersonic and hypersonic speeds.

Why it matters

• Supersonic and hypersonic UAS will give the U.S. military and its allies unprecedented capability against America's near-peer adversary.
• Affordable UAS capabilities give the U.S. and its allies the opportunity to boost stockpiles of hypersonic drones.
• The technology paves the way for a spaceplane, which can take off and land from any runway in the world.

The technology powering the partnership

Each company will bring cutting-edge technologies to the partnership:

Cummings Aerospace's Hellhound™ UAS: A versatile unmanned aircraft with multiple specialized variants. For this partnership, Cummings Aerospace will develop a new version designed to accommodate a hypersonic-capable engine. Key features include:

• Affordability, thanks to its 3D-printed modular design and commercial off-the-shelf hardware
• Rapid payload swaps in fewer than five minutes, with no tools required

ATRX's Air Turbo Rocket (ATR):

• A high-speed, air-breathing propulsion system
• Capable of flying at hypersonic speeds, 5 times the speed of sound
• Completed multiple prototype tests

Leadership perspectives

"The modern battlefield demands systems that are capable of flying faster and further into contested airspace," said Sheila Cummings, CEO of Cummings Aerospace. "This partnership with ATRX will allow us to develop ATR-powered UAS that can offer both of these characteristics in a single vehicle, at an affordable price."

"Cummings Aerospace is the perfect partner, considering the impressive work they've already done for the U.S. DOD. We're excited about this partnership because it will significantly simplify flight testing of our ATR engines," said ATRX CEO, Felix Bustos III. "Being able to validate the performance of our ATRs using a bespoke UAS based on a flight-proven airframe will de-risk and accelerate our spaceplane development efforts. Spaceplanes are very much needed with more than 50,000, mostly commercial, satellites that need to be launched into orbit in the next few years."

"Huntsville has a talented and capable space-focused workforce, and we plan to draw on their abilities to help this city become the hypersonic and spaceplane manufacturing capital of the world," Bustos said.

What's next

The companies plan to integrate the ATR engine into a Hellhound variant designed for high-speed flight and begin subsonic and supersonic flight testing.

Note to editors

Hellhound is a family of UAS with multiple specialized variants. The Hellhound S3 variant, distinct from the ATR-equipped model, and designed for the U.S. Army's Loitering Munition program, recently completed a series of flight tests.

About Cummings Aerospace

Cummings Aerospace, a Native American Woman-Owned Small Business headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, is an aerospace engineering company delivering responsible weapon system solutions for defense modernization and readiness. Cummings Aerospace expertise encompasses the design, development, production and sustainment of missile systems, hypersonic vehicles, radars, command and control systems, and associated technologies.

https://cummingsaerospace.com/

About ATRX

ATRX, based in Huntsville, Alabama, is developing space planes for low-cost on-demand space launch applications such as launching satellites to Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO), Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and other orbits. Currently, point-to-point hypersonic vehicles are being developed and will be capable of traveling up to 5,000 miles in under an hour. ATRX was founded by Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit alumni and is led by Co-founder and CEO Felix Bustos III, who has more than 15 years of aerospace leadership experience serving in senior level roles in the U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Virgin Galactic and deep-tech startup companies. He served as a U.S. military officer. Notably, ATRX is home to the world's leading ATR subject matter experts, Dr. John Bossard, Dr. Kirk Christensen and John Bergmans. ATRX is a graduate of the prestigious Techstars Space 2024 accelerator program.
https://www.atrx.space/

SOURCE Cummings Aerospace