Hermeus Goes Full Throttle at Unveil of Quarterhorse Prototype

Last week we held a little event. And unveiled a full-scale prototype of our first aircraft Quarterhorse.  

We brought together a diverse group of investors, industry leaders, military and government officials, researchers, and local civic associations – all the stakeholders who can make hypersonic flight a reality.

This included some special guest speakers, legendary entrepreneur and investor Vinod Khosla and Brigadier General Jason Lindsey.

“Less than three years ago, this felt almost impossible. And it’s gone from almost impossible, to possible, to probable today, and hopefully soon, real flight,” said Khosla.

A major emphasis of the night was to highlight progress being made on hardware development and integration.

To the surprise of the crowd, we didn’t just unveil an aircraft prototype, but delivered an experience atypical of aerospace unveils by firing the aircraft’s engine at maximum afterburner throttle.

“When an aerospace company typically unveils a new aircraft it’s nothing more than Styrofoam and fiberglass,” said Skyler Shuford, Hermeus COO. “But at Hermeus, we drive to integrated products. And we really, really like to make fire.”

While this Quarterhorse prototype was not designed to fly, it is much more than just a showpiece. Building this vehicle was an exercise in multidisciplinary design, manufacturing, and the integration of complete systems.

“We designed, manufactured, and integrated the aircraft, from nothing but an outer shape, in four months,” said Shuford.

If you want to get a feeling for what the event was like, check out this video: