Northrop Grumman and Hermeus Corporation have signed a teaming agreement to field a new class of autonomous, high-Mach military aircraft, pairing Northrop Grumman’s mission systems with Hermeus’ Quarterhorse aircraft. The agreement brings a large defense prime onto a program that Hermeus is already flight testing under a Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) contract with a ceiling of $219 million.

In a press release dated November 12, 2026, issued from Baltimore, Northrop Grumman said the agreement is meant to give warfighters faster and more survivable combat options. The company said it will combine its combat-proven mission systems and its “ready-now” electronic warfare, communication, sensing and autonomy expertise with Hermeus’ high-speed Quarterhorse aircraft.

What each company brings

According to the release, the agreement combines Northrop Grumman’s mission systems, payload integration and autonomy expertise with Hermeus’ rapidly developed aircraft, which are designed to operate at supersonic speeds and above. Northrop Grumman framed the deal around the speed of fielding, saying the threat environment is accelerating and that the Department of War needs autonomous systems developed and fielded in months rather than years.

Kyle Mimken, a program manager at Northrop Grumman, said defense technology must evolve faster than ever because customers need solutions now. He said the two companies would give the military a new operational edge by putting advanced mission kits on aircraft built to move beyond supersonic speeds.

The release does not disclose the value of the agreement, which Quarterhorse aircraft will carry Northrop Grumman equipment, when that equipment will first fly, or a specific customer program.

A pattern of prime and new-entrant teams

Northrop Grumman said it is actively partnering with new-entrant innovators to lead the Department of War’s effort to evolve partnerships, with the goal of developing, producing and fielding more affordable technologies at speed and scale. The Hermeus agreement follows a similar pairing announced on January 8, 2026, when Kratos Defense & Security Solutions said Northrop Grumman had won, through competition, the U.S. Marine Corps’ Marine Air-Ground Task Force Uncrewed Expeditionary Tactical Aircraft (MUX TACAIR) Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) award.

In the Marine Corps MUX TACAIR program, according to Kratos, Northrop Grumman is to develop and deliver an Advanced Mission Kit of sensors and software-defined technologies and its Prism open architecture autonomy software, paired with Kratos’ Valkyrie uncrewed aerial system. The Hermeus agreement follows the same division of labor: Northrop Grumman’s mission equipment on an aircraft built by a newer company.

Where the Quarterhorse program stands

Hermeus, a venture-backed defense aviation company, is building a series of increasingly capable Quarterhorse aircraft rather than a single operational design. In a company blog post titled “The Road to High-Mach,” Hermeus said the Quarterhorse Mk 1 made the company’s maiden flight in May 2025 at Edwards Air Force Base, powered by a GE J85 turbojet.

The Quarterhorse Mk 2.1, roughly the size of an F-16 and powered by a Pratt & Whitney F100 engine, flew its first mission in February 2026. On May 26, 2026, Hermeus announced that the aircraft had reached Mach 1.21 on its first supersonic flight, flown from Spaceport America over White Sands Missile Range airspace. Hermeus later said the Mk 2.1 reached Mach 1.6 on its fourth flight and, on its following flight two weeks later, deployed a demonstration payload.

The next aircraft, the Mk 2.2, was built in eight months and began its flight campaign in September 2026, according to Hermeus. It has upgraded avionics and software, more fuel capacity and a propulsion system called Gryphon with an actuated spike inlet, and its campaign aims to validate the propulsion architecture beyond Mach 2. The Mk 2.3 is meant to approach Mach 3, and a later Mk 3 is planned as the first aircraft powered by the company’s Chimera II turbine-based combined-cycle (TBCC) system, which Hermeus said will demonstrate turbine-to-ramjet mode transition in flight.

Funding, autonomy and the customer

In a release dated May 28, 2026, Hermeus said it had secured a $159 million contract modification with the DIU, raising the total contract ceiling to $219 million to demonstrate high-Mach flight and high-speed payload release. Hermeus said it is partnering with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy on that expanded scope, with intensive flight tests in 2026 and 2027, and that all flight data will inform service experimentation and future acquisition decisions.

Northrop Grumman is not the first company to join the mission side of Quarterhorse. Hermeus has also partnered with Anduril Industries, whose Lattice for Mission Autonomy software is to become the core software engine for mission planning and execution on the Quarterhorse Mk 2 platform. Hermeus said the teams are already integrating and testing the Lattice and Quarterhorse combination, with a first flight planned for 2027. The Northrop Grumman release does not say how its mission kit and autonomy work will relate to the Anduril integration.

AirPro News analysis

We read the agreement as a step from speed demonstration toward a mission-equipped aircraft. Hermeus’ DIU work already centers on high-speed payload release, Anduril’s software is slated to run mission planning, and Northrop Grumman now adds electronic warfare, sensing and payload integration. That is the same mission-kit-plus-airframe model Northrop Grumman is using with Kratos for the Marine Corps.

The open questions are commercial. Neither the value of the agreement, the aircraft that will carry Northrop Grumman equipment, nor a customer program of record has been disclosed, and those details will show how close the Quarterhorse line is to an operational requirement.

Starfighters Space, which flies Mach 2+ F-104 jets from Kennedy Space Center, has joined a team led by Exos Aerospace Systems & Technologies that is seeking work through the U.S. Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) Velocity Alliance. The Air Force Test Center has rated the team’s white paper technically acceptable, but the teaming is not a contract award.

In a press release distributed on Business Wire on November 10, 2026, Starfighters (NYSE American: FJET) said Exos submitted the white paper under the Alliance’s second onboarding opportunity, Solicitation FA9101-26-9-Velocity_Alliance, naming Starfighters as its external teaming partner. The pairing puts an airborne flight-test provider on a team seeking a place in a consortium that AEDC itself describes as a vehicle for modernizing aerospace ground test capabilities.

What the Velocity Alliance is

According to the Starfighters release, AEDC and the Air Force Test Center established the Velocity Alliance as an enterprise-level acquisition vehicle to accelerate the sustainment, restoration and modernization of critical U.S. aerospace test infrastructure, including for hypersonic technologies. The release says the Air Force describes it as a pre-qualified, competitive ecosystem of industry partners supporting a multibillion-dollar portfolio of infrastructure projects.

An article by AEDC Public Affairs, written by Diamond Brown and published on the Air Force Test Center website, gives more detail. It describes the Alliance as an enterprise-level acquisition vehicle for modernizing the nation’s aerospace ground test capabilities, operating mainly under the Other Transaction authorities of 10 U.S.C. § 4022 and 10 U.S.C. § 2808a. Prospective members must meet technical, cybersecurity and other requirements before joining, and the consortium can include traditional and non-traditional defense contractors, small businesses, nonprofit organizations and research institutions.

Greg Jones, agreements officer for the AEDC Velocity Alliance Consortium, said in the article that the framework avoids traditional acquisition bureaucracy and is designed for procurement integrity, transparency and a speed of acquisition AEDC has not seen before. AEDC says the modernization supports hypersonic platforms, advanced sensors and technologies enabling the Long-Range Kill Chain.

What Starfighters brings to the Exos team

The release says Starfighters’ F-104 aircraft can carry test articles and payloads through high-speed atmospheric flight, supporting research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) of aerospace and defense technologies. A typical 45-minute mission can include up to approximately 10 minutes at Mach 2+.

John Quinn, co-founder and CEO of Exos Aerospace, said adding Starfighters gives the team a high-speed airborne test capability that complements AEDC’s ground-test facilities. He said the operational F-104 fleet would let the team offer “real-atmosphere flight data” alongside the agency’s modernized infrastructure.

Tim Franta, CEO of Starfighters Space, said the company brings “a capability that is extremely difficult to replicate.” He said Exos selected Starfighters for high-speed airborne flight testing and that successful onboarding would create another pathway to government missions.

The airborne test pitch

The teaming follows the company’s July 28, 2026, announcement of the next development phase of its Wind Tunnel in the Sky platform, for which it is designing a modular, reusable underwing platform that can host sensors, test articles and other payloads. In that release, Starfighters said ground wind tunnel test runs typically last only seconds, while a single flight can replace what might otherwise take days of facility scheduling. Franta said then that “access to specialized test infrastructure remains limited,” and that airborne testing can expose hardware to weather variation, vibration, acceleration, dynamic pressure and temperature conditions that a fixed facility cannot fully reproduce. He also said ground wind tunnels remain essential.

The release also cites earlier work. Starfighters previously demonstrated airborne testing through GE Aerospace’s Atmospheric Test of Launched Airbreathing System (ATLAS) program, a separate effort funded under Defense Production Act Title III and unrelated to AEDC. In that earlier F-104 test campaign, a Starfighters F-104 completed three supersonic captive-carry flights from Kennedy Space Center carrying an advanced propulsion test vehicle. The July release also cites flight testing for its STARLAUNCH 1 demonstrator.

Who is on the team

Starfighters, which describes itself as operating the world’s only commercial fleet of flight-ready Mach 2+ supersonic aircraft, flies its F-104s from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Midland International Air & Space Port in Texas. In a year-end update dated December 23, 2025, following its NYSE American listing, the company said its modified supersonic aircraft can act as a first-stage lifting platform carrying payloads up to 45,000 feet for air launch to space. Its jets can also serve as platforms for pilot training and for RDT&E work on hypersonic technologies, advanced materials, missile defense, microgravity science, spaceflight hardware validation and defense electronic systems.

Exos Aerospace is headquartered in Greenville, Texas, and builds and operates reusable suborbital rockets. According to the release, it has flown commercial payloads since 2018 on its SARGE vehicle, and its successor vehicle, BLK3, is scheduled for its next flight in early 2027.

What the teaming does and does not mean

The release states that participation in onboarding is not a contract award, task order or government funding commitment. It says there is no assurance that Exos will complete onboarding or receive a project award, or that Starfighters will generate Velocity Alliance revenue. References to AEDC, the Air Force Test Center and the U.S. Air Force do not imply endorsement by the Department of the Air Force or the Department of Defense, the release adds.

The next step, according to Starfighters, is for the Exos team to complete the remaining onboarding requirements. Neither company disclosed which Velocity Alliance projects the team intends to pursue.

The U.S. Space Force has formally activated U.S. Space Forces Special Operations Command (SPACEFOR-SOC) at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, as the newest service component of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). It is the first new service component USSOCOM has added since 2006.

According to a release published by MacDill Air Force Base in November 2026, SPACEFOR-SOC organizes and presents specialized forces, known as SOF Guardians, to Theater Special Operations Commands and Joint Task Forces worldwide. The command took administrative effect on Oct. 7, 2026, and joins the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps special operations components under USSOCOM. It is commanded by Col. Peter “Charlie” Norsky.

What SPACEFOR-SOC will provide to special operations forces

According to the Space Force’s page for the new command, SPACEFOR-SOC, also referred to as SPACESOC, generates, prepares and presents specialized Space Force personnel and force packages to USSOCOM to integrate space capabilities into special operations. The service says the command adapts Space Force expertise, personnel, training and capabilities to the requirements of special operations while complementing, not replacing, conventional Space Force missions.

The command will provide planners, advisors, liaison officers, intelligence personnel, enablers and specialized teams, and connect special operations forces with the wider Space Force, joint, intelligence, cyber, commercial, allied and partner enterprises. The Space Force lists its intended contributions as improving situational awareness and decision advantage, enhancing resilient communications and navigation, integrating space, cyber, intelligence and electromagnetic capabilities, and supporting planning, targeting, protection and effects synchronization.

SOF Guardians and Space Special Warfare teams

The Space Force defines a SOF Guardian as a Guardian assigned to a special operations organization. SOF Guardians include operators, planners, intelligence professionals, technical experts and mission enablers. Space Special Warfare operators are a smaller group within them, described by the service as the “deliberately assessed, selected, trained, qualified, and mission-certified subset” prepared for designated operational employment.

Through the operational capability the Space Force calls Space Special Warfare, SPACEFOR-SOC deploys small, modular teams that combine space, cyber and intelligence specialists. According to the MacDill release, these teams deliver mobile, low-signature space capabilities in contested and communications-degraded environments.

What Space Force and USSOCOM leaders said

Gen. Douglas Schiess, the Chief of Space Operations, said the Guardians of SPACEFOR-SOC are shaping how special operations leaders see the world through the space domain lens and are bringing space expertise directly to combatant command headquarters. He added:

“When special operators go into harm’s way, they do so with the confidence that the Space Force is securing the ultimate high ground to enable the Joint fight.”

Schiess was installed as Chief of Space Operations at a Sept. 3 ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, succeeding the retiring Gen. Chance Saltzman. According to the Space Force, the Senate confirmed him in August as the third Chief of Space Operations in the service’s history, and he is responsible for more than 15,000 uniformed and civilian members.

Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, commander of USSOCOM, described what the activation gives each side:

“For the SOF enterprise, this activation provides an enduring and accountable way to integrate space power into special operations. For the Space Force, it provides a direct operational connection to one of the Joint Force’s most demanding mission sets.”

Norsky said the ceremony marked a commitment by the Space Force to present specially trained SOF Guardians, equipped with SOF-peculiar space capabilities, to USSOCOM. He said the Guardians assigned to SOF formations in Space Special Warfare Teams “will be capable of integrating Guardian power at scale across the SOF enterprise.”

How the Space Force has built its service components

SPACEFOR-SOC follows a series of Space Force components created to present forces to combatant commands. When U.S. Space Forces, Indo-Pacific was activated at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, on Nov. 22, 2022, the Space Force said such components give combatant commanders a subordinate space commander, organic space planning and employment expertise, and space command and control focused on the joint force’s warfighting priorities. It called that stand-up its model for presenting forces to other combatant commands and said planning was underway for components at each remaining combatant command.

U.S. Central Command activated U.S. Space Forces-Central at its permanent headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base on Dec. 2, 2022, to handle space operations in its area of responsibility, including positioning, navigation and timing, satellite communication and missile warning. U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command and the Space Force activated U.S. Space Forces Europe and Africa at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on Dec. 8, 2023, saying it would have about 30 service members.

Two more components followed in January 2026. Space Forces Southern, which became operational on Dec. 1, 2025, was formally activated at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base on Jan. 21, 2026, as the space component of U.S. Southern Command. U.S. Space Forces Northern was activated at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, on Jan. 30, 2026, as the service component to U.S. Northern Command.