Aviation Week 2024 Photo Contest Gallery: Stratolaunch Talon-A2 And Roc

In addition to testing internal payloads, the 19-ft.-long Talon can be adapted to trial a variety of external payloads, ranging from alternate nose and rudder shapes to belly-mounted airflow experiments.

The autonomous and reusable Talon-A2 is designed to fly at hypersonic speeds up to Mach 6 for at least 2 min. following release from Stratolaunch’s Roc carrier aircraft.

With Stratolaunch’s Boeing 747-400 carrier aircraft in the background, the company’s Talon TA-2 hypersonic test vehicle displays the nozzle of its 5,000-lb.-thrust Ursa Major-built Hadley rocket engine.

Designed with built-in payload bays for multiple experiments, the Talon TA-2 will be used initially for hypersonic tests under the U.S. Navy’s Multiservice Advanced Capability Hypersonics Test Bed program.

Emerging from Stratolaunch’s Mojave Air & Space Port facility for the first time, the Talon TA-2 was positioned for a photo shoot at sunrise on Dec 9, 2023.

With its center-wing-mounted Talon launch system unoccupied, the 321-ft.-wingspan Roc carrier aircraft took off for an envelope expansion flight in June 2024.

To withstand temperatures up to 2,000F, the Talon-A’s composite airframe incorporates a space-shuttle-like thermal protection system on the nose and wing leading edges.

Pictured here before the Talon-A2’s first captive-carry flight, the launch system is 14 ft. wide and 10 ft. tall, providing ample clearance for the test vehicle.

The Roc climbs out of Mojave Air & Space Port on May 30, 2024, for the first of two envelope expansion flights targeted at higher operational altitudes up to 35,000 ft. and speeds up to Mach 0.63.