Alabama-based companies ATRX and Cummings Aerospace have teamed up to create a cutting-edge, low-cost drone capable of reaching speeds five times the speed of sound.
The partnership will integrate a high-speed turbo-rocket into a proven unmanned aerial system (UAS), enabling it to achieve subsonic, supersonic, and eventually hypersonic speeds.
The companies will use a larger version of Cummings’ Hellbound UAS — a low-cost kamikaze drone known for its 3D-printed modular design and commercial off-the-shelf hardware.
“The modern battlefield demands systems that are capable of flying faster and further into contested airspace,” Cummings Aerospace CEO Sheila Cummings stated. “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.”
The two companies aim to conduct the first vertically launched test of the hypersonic drone within the next 18-24 months.
‘A Very Unique Capability’
The US military has made significant investments in the development of hypersonic drones, recognizing their potential to evade interception by conventional air defense systems due to their extreme speed.
Despite ongoing efforts, no branch of the military has yet fully deployed a UAS capable of exceeding five times the speed of sound.
If ATRX and Cummings Aerospace succeed in developing a low-cost hypersonic drone within their specified timeframe, they could become the first to offer this groundbreaking capability to militaries worldwide.
“It (ATRX’s turbo-rocket engine) allows capability to go from standstill on a runway or vertical take-off to Mach 5,” company CEO Felix Bustos III told Breaking Defense. “We have the hardware in development and are on a fast track to develop that capability which will provide a very unique capability for the warfighter.”
