ATRX and Cummings Aerospace to jointly develop Supersonic and Hypersonic unmanned aircraft
MOU Signing at Cummings Aerospace
(L-R) ATRX President John Bergmans, Cummings Aerospace CEO Sheila Cummings, ATRX CEO Felix Bustos III and ATRX CTO Dr. John Bossard
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Huntsville, AL - January 16, 2025 - ATRX and Cummings Aerospace signed an agreement to collaborate on developing high speed Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The two companies will work together to integrate a high-speed Air Turbo Rocket onto a proven airframe, with the goal of developing affordable UASs that can fly at supersonic and hypersonic speeds.
Why it Matters
Supersonic and hypersonic UASs will give the U.S. military and its allies unprecedented capability against America's near-peer adversary.
Affordable capabilities give the U.S. and its allies the opportunity to boost their stockpiles of hypersonic drone and UASs.
The technology paves the way for a space plane that can take off and land from any runway in the world.
The Technology Powering the Partnership
The companies are bringing two technologies to the partnership:
- Hellhound™ Unmanned Aircraft System:
- Affordable – combines a modular design with 3D printing and commercial, off-the-shelf hardware
- Able to change payloads in less than 5 minutes with no tools
- Completed more than 12 flight tests in 2024
- Manufactured by Cummings Aerospace
- Air Turbo Rocket (ATR):
- A high-speed, air-breathing propulsion system
- Capable of flying at hypersonic speeds -- five times the speed of sound
- Prototype ATR completed multiple hot-fire tests
- Manufactured by ATRX
Leadership Perspectives
"The modern battlefield demands systems that are capable of flying faster and further into contested airspace," said Sheila Cummings, CEO of Cummings Aerospace. "This partnership with ATRX will allow us to develop ATR-powered UASs that can offer both of these characteristics in a single vehicle, at an affordable price."
"Cummings Aerospace is the perfect partner, considering the impressive work they’ve already done for the U.S. DoD. We're excited about this partnership because it will significantly simplify flight testing of our ATR engines," said ATRX CEO, Felix Bustos III. "Being able to validate the performance of our ATRs using a bespoke UAS based on a flight-proven airframe will de-risk and accelerate our space plane development efforts. Space planes are very much needed with more than 50,000, mostly commercial, satellites that need to be launched into orbit in the next few years."
"Huntsville has a talented and capable space-focused workforce, and we plan to draw on their abilities to help this city become the hypersonic and space plane manufacturing capital of the world," Bustos added.
What's Next
Integration of an ATRX ATR engine into Cummings Aerospace's Hellhound
Subsonic flight testing
Supersonic flight testing
Development of a hypersonic flight vehicle
Hypersonic flight testing
About Cummings
Cummings Aerospace, a Native American Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB/DWOSB) headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, is an aerospace engineering company delivering responsible weapon system solutions for defense modernization and readiness. Cummings Aerospace expertise encompasses the design, development, production, and sustainment of missile systems, hypersonic vehicles, radars, command and control systems, and associated technologies.
https://cummingsaerospace.com/
About ATRX
ATRX, based in Huntsville, Alabama, is developing space planes for low-cost on-demand space launch applications such as launching satellites to Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO), Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and other orbits. Currently, point-to-point hypersonic vehicles are being developed and will be capable of traveling up to 5,000 miles in under an hour.
ATRX was founded by Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit alumni and is led by Co-Founder and CEO Felix Bustos III who has 15+ years of aerospace leadership experience, serving in senior level roles in the U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Virgin Galactic and deep-tech startup companies. He served as a U.S. military officer. Notably, ATRX is home to the world’s leading ATR subject matter experts, Dr. John Bossard, Dr. Kirk Christensen and John Bergmans.
ATRX is a graduate of the prestigious Techstars Space 2024 accelerator program.
Cummings Hellhound™ UAS
ATRX Air Turbo Rocket Hot Fire Test
Future ATRX Space Plane
Media Contacts
Mike Nachshen
Cummings Aerospace
mike@fortisstrat.com
Kristin Hildebrand
CMO, ATRX
info@atrx.space