Kratos Has A Hypersonic Drone In The Works
Kratos has revealed that it is working on a new drone capable of flying at hypersonic speeds, typically defined as anything above Mach 5. The company has also said it is aiming for the very-high-speed uncrewed aircraft to be 'orders of magnitude' less expensive than any comparable design or concept known to exist today.
Kratos CEO Eric DeMarco first disclosed the existence of the hypersonic drone program, which is currently internally funded, in a recent interview with Aviation Week. It is unclear when the project started or how mature the design is at present, or what mission sets it might be intended to perform. Kratos has also not explicitly said if it will be reusable or air-breathing, but describing it as a drone points to both of those things being true.
'We will disclose the name of this specific system at or near initial flight,' a Kratos spokesperson told TWZ when asked for more information.
'Since 2013, a key element of Kratos has been for Kratos to invest our own R&D [research and development], NRE [non-recurring engineering], and capital in order to move fast and rapidly design, engineer, and field affordable relevant systems for the warfighter, which is what we are doing with Kratos Furies Family of Hypersonic Systems,' the spokesperson added. 'Similar to Kratos Erinyes and Dark Fury Hypersonic Flyers, this new Kratos funded Hypersonic Drone initiative, included in Kratos Furies Family of Hypersonic Systems, is expected to be orders of magnitude less costly than any other hypersonic system or concept in existence today.'
Erinyes and Dark Fury are both unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicles designed to be launched with the help of a booster rocket. Kratos has been developing its own Zeus family of solid-fuel rocket motors in parallel with those vehicles. This work is tied, at least in part, to the U.S. military's Multi-Service Advanced Capability Hypersonics Test Bed (MACH-TB) effort, U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency (MDA) requirements for hypersonic targets, and NASA's Sounding Rocket Program. Just in January, Kratos received a five-year contract for MACH-TB-related work, which, if all options are exercised, could have a total value of $1.45 billion.
It's also worth noting here that affordability has long been a key tenet for Kratos when it comes to its drone programs, especially the company's flagship XQ-58 Valkyrie line.
'The mystery vehicle can be supported by the Hypersonic System Indiana Payload Integration Facility,' or IPIF, according to Aviation Week. 'Asked if the IPIF would support only payloads for hypersonic glide vehicles powered by solid rocket motors, DeMarco said vehicles with air-breathing propulsion technologies also are possible.'
Kratos announced just earlier this week that ground had been broken at the site of the future IPIF in Crane, Indiana.
Aviation Week also pointed to a statement that DeMarco made back in 2019 about how, 'beyond traditional turbojet and turbofan engines, we are also focused on developing advanced, affordable engines for a new class of hypersonic propulsion system.'
Kratos has, so far, declined to say whether or not its hypersonic drone program is directly related to any other work the company has previously announced. Kratos was named as a member of the Leidos-led team that won a contract to develop a new air-breathing hypersonic platform as part of the Air Force's secretive Mayhem program in 2022, which we will come back to later on in this story.
Kratos has also been working with Australian firm Hypersonix Launch Systems on the latter company's DART AE design. DART AE has been described as 'a three-meter-long, single-use, high temperature alloy, hydrogen-fueled, scramjet technology driven, autonomous, multi-mission, air-breathing hypersonic platform used to develop, demonstrate, test and evaluate hypersonic technologies and for 'other' potential hypersonic applications.'
While it is a powered design, DART AE is also expected to be launched via a rocket booster. Hypersonix had originally targeted 2023 for DART AE's first flight, but the schedule subsequently slipped at least to the end of last year. Whether or not that design has actually flown now is unclear.
The revelation that Kratos is working on a hypersonic drone also follows the emergence of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Next Generation Responsive Strike (Next RS) effort. From what is known now, Next RS is centered on advancing various technologies that could help in creating a new reusable hypersonic air vehicle capable of performing strike and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. DARPA has indicated an actual Next RS prototype or demonstrator design could fly within the next five years.
The Air Force is also involved in Next RS, the stated objectives of which are extremely similar to those of the previously mentioned Mayhem program. The service acknowledged to TWZ last year that there was uncertainty over whether or not there was even a requirement for this kind of hypersonic strike/ISR capability and the current status of the Mayhem effort is murky.
Other companies are or at least have been working on reusable hypersonic aircraft designs. The Hermeus Corporation is notably working up to the first flight of its uncrewed Quarterhorse Mk. 1 aircraft, which is set to be staged from Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Quarterhorse Mk. 1 is powered by a J85 turbojet and is not expected to fly at even supersonic speed. Hermeus says this is the first stepping stone toward a hypersonic design that will feature its Chimera Turbine Based Combined Cycle (TBCC) propulsion system.
A practical TBCC propulsion system has long been held out as a holy grail for very high-speed reusable aircraft. Ramjets and scramjets typically used to propel air-breathing air vehicle designs to hypersonic speeds do not work properly at subsonic speeds and often have difficulty performing even at low-supersonic speeds. This is why rocket motors are usually used to provide an initial boost for hypersonic air vehicles. TBCCs include jet engines that work at lower-speed regimes and offer the ability to seamlessly switch between high and low-speed modes on demand. As such, an air vehicle with TBCC propulsion would be able to take off and land from existing runways like any other aircraft, but be able to cruise at high-supersonic or even hypersonic speeds. This, in turn, would offer immense flexibility to perform a host of potential missions.
More details about Kratos' hypersonic drone project may begin to emerge now that its existence has been disclosed, especially if a first flight may be getting closer on the horizon.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com
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Latest On Russian Aircraft Loss Assessments From Ukrainian Drone Strikes
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However, the resolution of the image and the nature of SAR, which does not show the same kinds of details that would be available in visual spectrum imagery, do make it difficult to definitively determine the state of any of the aircraft. Ukrainian authorities claim to have hit 41 aircraft, in total, including Tu-95 Bear, Tu-22M Backfire, and Tu-160 Blackjack bombers, as well as A-50 Mainstay airborne early warning and control aircraft, and other types. In addition to Belaya, Russia's Dyagilevo, Ivanovo, Olenya, and Ukrainka air bases were also said to have been targeted. Because I've not seen it anywhere yet…Here's a map I made of the 4 Russian air bases that Ukraine hit with drone attacks just now (red stars)Look how deeply they penetrate into Russian territory. Slava Ukraini. — Mike Galsworthy (@mikegalsworthy) June 1, 2025 The New York Times separately reported today that as many as 20 planes at Belaya and Olenya, at least, were struck, citing unnamed American and European security officials. Andriy Kovalenko, an official with Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, previously said that 'at least 13 Russian aircraft were destroyed.' Independent verification of these claims remains difficult and they continue to be largely speculative. ICEYE's specific assessments regarding Belaya do align with what can be seen in other SAR imagery of that particular base now circulating online from Capella Space and Umbra Space. Commercial satellite providers that offer SAR imaging capability have been a go-to since Ukraine launched its drone attacks due to heavy cloud cover over the targeted bases in Russia. SAR provides a valuable all-weather imaging option that can also 'see' through smoke, dust, and other obscurants. The revetted parking positions. — Chris Biggers (@CSBiggers) June 2, 2025 Satellite imagery shows Ukraine attack destroyed and damaged Russian bombers Drone operation was one of Ukraine's most damaging of war so farhttps:// via @Reuters — Nino Brodin (@Orgetorix) June 3, 2025 'What we're seeing across multiple theaters reinforces why persistent, all-weather monitoring capabilities are essential for understanding rapidly evolving situations,' a spokesperson for ICEYE US told TWZ. 'Commercial SAR technology provides decision-makers with continuous situational awareness that doesn't depend on weather conditions or time of day—capabilities that are increasingly critical as conflicts become more dynamic and distributed.' 'The ability to detect changes in infrastructure, movement patterns, and ground conditions through any weather gives commanders and analysts the persistent vigilance they need to make informed decisions,' they added. 'This is exactly why we've focused on delivering commercial capabilities that complement national systems—providing redundancy and additional perspective when traditional sensors might be limited.' At the same time, as TWZ has previously noted, SAR imagery, of the commercial variety in particular, has limitations for evaluating the kinds of damage that are of interest in the wake of Ukraine's drone attacks. Pairing SAR images with other intelligence-related products can help bridge the certainty gap. When it comes to Belaya, videos taken at ground level had previously emerged online showing smoke rising from the base following the Ukrainain attacks, which lends further credence to what is seen in the SAR imagery. Footage of a Ukrainian FPV strike drone flying towards Russia's Belaya Airbase, already heavily base, home to a number of bombers, was hit this afternoon. — OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) June 1, 2025 Belaya, June 1, 2025, operation Spiderweb, another footage — IgorGirkin (@GirkinGirkin) June 2, 2025 Video footage of the drone attacks on Olenya Air Base, located in far northwestern Russia near the Barents Sea, including views from the cameras on first-person-view (FPV) type kamikaze drones, had also previously appeared online. Olenya looks to have been one of the hardest hit bases, with the dramatic drone videos showing Tu-95 bombers, as well as an An-12 Cub cargo plane, being targeted. A satellite image of Olenya taken today from Planet Labs may show three Tu-95s and the An-12 damaged and/or destroyed, but it is too low-resolution to be conclusive. Olenya/Olenegorsk/Vysokiy (part one).Smoking Tu-95: 68.139848, 33.444469Burning Tu-95: 68.143294, 33.448041Burning Tu-95: 68.144249, 33.448926Destroyed Tu-95: 68.145419, 33.449928Source: — Evergreen Intel (@ 2025-06-02T14:22:59.735Z Olenya/Olenegorsk/Vysokiy (part two).Burning An-12: 68.146555, 33.450901Destroyed Tu-95MS from part 3 at 68.145419, 33.449928 identified as RF-94257 '22 Red' — Evergreen Intel (@ 2025-06-02T14:24:07.929Z Satellite images of Olenya Airbase as of June 3, 09:55 UTCThe airbase housed 1 Tu-160 (Blackjack), 1 Il-76 (Candid), 3 An-12 (Cub) and 28 Tu-22M3 (Backfire-C).After the Ukrainian special operation, 4 completely destroyed planes can be seen: 3 Tu-95MS (Bear-H) and 1 An-12… — AviVector (@avivector) June 3, 2025 A high-resolution satellite image of Dyagilevo Air Base from Planet Labs taken yesterday, which TWZ has reviewed, shows no obvious signs of damage to any aircraft there. It is worth noting that damage from shrapnel, which can be significant to relatively thin-skinned aircraft, would not be visible even in higher-resolution imagery. Satellite images of Dyagilevo Airbase as of June 2, 8:55 UTCThe airbase housed 3 Tu-95MS (Bear-H), 5 Tu-22M3 (Backfire-C), 14 Il-78M or Il-76MD (Midas or Candid) and 2 Su-30SM (Flanker-C).There was no serious damage after the Ukrainian special operation. In the right… — AviVector (@avivector) June 2, 2025 Clear satellite imagery that might definitely show damage to aircraft at Ivanovo and Ukrainka has yet to emerge. There are also unconfirmed reports today that the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, which carried out the drone attacks, has additional unreleased video footage showing two A-50s and multiple Tu-22Ms being struck at unspecified bases. My frequent co-writer Michael Weiss also confirms the content of the video: — Jimmy Rushton (@JimmySecUK) June 3, 2025 As TWZ has noted in our past reporting on the Ukrainian drone attacks, any Russian losses of Tu-95, Tu-22M, to Tu-160 bombers, as well as A-50s, carry significant weight. None of these aircraft can be repaired and/or replaced quickly, if at all. Russian authorities have stated plans in the past to buy 50 ostensibly new-production Tu-160M2 aircraft with various upgrades. As of last year, however, only three appeared to have been built, none of which had entered operational service. TWZ has noted in the past that the Tu-160M2 plan could include refurbished existing jets and ones built using unfinished airframes. Russia would not have had lose very many bombers, as well as A-50s, to have substantial impacts with regard to operations in Ukraine and well beyond. As we have previously written: 'Even taking one or two bombers out of operation will impact the Russian Aerospace Forces. The bomber triad has played a key role in launching the barrages of cruise missiles that have regularly struck targets across Ukraine.' 'At the same time, these aircraft are a integral part of Russia's nuclear deterrent. This makes them a matter of great prestige, but also a critical element in Russia's ability to launch nuclear or conventional airstrikes against targets outside of Ukraine. These aircraft are also regularly used for long-range patrols over Europe and Asia, also venturing as far as the coast of Alaska, and for irregular visits to strategic allies.' 'Wiping out a significant portion of one prong of the nuclear triad — the most flexible part of it — has an impact on the credibility of Russia's overall deterrent. It's also worth noting that Moscow has repeatedly said that attacks on strategic targets would constitute a red line for them, although, strategic bombers and critical locales have been attacked on numerous occasions in the past, too. None of these strikes have been as widespread and possibly successful as this operation though. Regardless, even if a handful of bombers met their demise, it's a blow to Russia's nuclear deterrent posture.' Regardless of the full scale and scope the resulting damage, Ukraine's drone attacks on Russian air bases far from the front lines has already had already clear propaganda and morale-boosting benefits. There is emerging evidence of second-order impacts in Russia, including disruptions due to the implementation of new protocols for inspecting trucks and other security measures, as well. Russia has now started a truck phobia, massive traffic jams have gripped the Irkutsk region, every truck is being checkedSource: — Oriannalyla (@Lyla_lilas) June 2, 2025 А что случилось.По всей России фуры стоят…Может учения какие? — Друг человека (@boris0630) June 3, 2025 As more and better satellite imagery continues to emerge, along with other verifiable visuals and other details, the full extent of Ukraine's mass drone attacks on Russian bases will come more and more into view. Howard Altman contributed to this story. Contact the author: joe@
