GE Aerospace to advance hypersonic testing for US DIU

GE Aerospace has been awarded a contract by the US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), part of the US Department of War, to advance development of a hypersonic test bed under the Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities (HyCAT) programme.

Why concept development now requires a liquid-fuelled hypersonic test platform

The award marks the next phase of development for a liquid-fuelled hypersonic test platform, building on initial funding awarded in 2023 to support concept development and team formation. Under this latest phase, GE Aerospace will design and develop a combined booster and cruiser system, together forming an all-up-round (AUR) test bed, to enable hypersonic testing.

Steve “Doogie” Russell, Vice President and General Manager of Edison Works at GE Aerospace, said: “Acceleration in this type of hypersonic testing are critical to advancing next-generation capabilities at speed and scale.

“This work with DIU builds on years of investment and progress and we are proud to help deliver a flexible, responsive test solution to support national defence priorities.”

How preliminary work has prepared the programme for full integration of testing systems

Since 2023, the programme has progressed through multiple development milestones. Following initial concept development, GE Aerospace advanced subsystem refinement and evaluation in 2024 and moved into preliminary design review of the all-up-round in 2025.

This newly awarded phase in 2026 will focus on full integration of the AUR, along with first qualification and component-level testing of key subsystems.