Hermeus
"Building the world's fastest aircraft"
US hypersonic aircraft maker building reusable Mach-5 jets powered by its turbine-ramjet Chimera engine for defense.
Hermeus Corporation is an American high-speed aircraft manufacturer founded in 2018 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with additional sites in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Jacksonville, Florida. The company focuses on the rapid design, build, and test of high-Mach and hypersonic aircraft for national defense, working directly with the U.S. Department of Defense. Its core enabling technology is the Chimera hybrid engine, which combines a turbine and a ramjet so an aircraft can take off conventionally, break the sound barrier, and accelerate to hypersonic speeds of Mach 5 and beyond; Hermeus has designed, built, and tested a Mach 5 engine prototype. The Quarterhorse program is a rapidly reusable high-speed flight-test aircraft progressing through staged prototypes (Mk 0 through Mk 3); the uncrewed Quarterhorse Mk 1 completed a successful flight test at Edwards Air Force Base in 2025, with later variants targeting supersonic and beyond Mach 3.3 speeds using the Chimera II propulsion system. Darkhorse is an uncrewed hypersonic military aircraft intended for mass production, bringing high responsiveness and survivability to defense missions. As an uncrewed, autonomous high-speed platform developer, Hermeus operates at the intersection of aerospace, autonomy, and defense, supported by funding from investors including Khosla Ventures and contracts with U.S. defense organizations.
The company employs over 275 people and emphasizes iterative hardware development to make testing in under-explored high-speed flight environments routine and affordable for the United States and allied partners.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Quarterhorse
- Model: Mk 1
- Launch Year: 2025
Uncrewed rapidly reusable high-speed flight-test aircraft; Mk 1 flew at Edwards AFB in 2025.
Darkhorse
Uncrewed hypersonic military aircraft designed for mass production and defense missions.
Contact Hermeus
WEBSITE
https://www.hermeus.com/HEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
2018
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
-
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