Core Memory · Oct 21, 2026 · 54m · 46m saved
With Zach Shore, CEO of Hermeus · A.J. Piplica, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Hermeus
Hermeus reached supersonic flight seven and a half years after it was founded, without even $100 million to start with. SpaceX, which the founders hold up as the benchmark, took six and a half years to reach orbit.
Zach Shore, CEO of Hermeus, and A.J. Piplica, its co-founder and executive chairman, told Ashlee Vance on Core Memory that the speed comes from one choice most of aerospace avoids: taking the pilot out of the aircraft so the company can take risks a manned program cannot.
"Elon was 6 and a half years to orbit. We were 7 and a half years to supersonic flight. And we didn't have the $100 million to start with."
A.J. founded the company and ran it as CEO before handing that job to Zach this year. The interview was recorded at Spaceport America in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, on the day Hermeus was flying its Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 test aircraft.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 54 minutes of audio, 8 minutes of reading.
Here are the 6 takeaways that matter.
Key Takeaways
Hermeus took its test jet to Mach 1.21 with only 45 minutes of total flight time on the aircraft
Flying unmanned lets Hermeus take Elon Musk-style risks that a piloted program like Boom Supersonic cannot
Zach says the US has spent tens of billions of dollars on hypersonic weapons and fielded none of them
An unmanned, mass-producible supersonic jet could be written off like an MQ-9 drone instead of risking two pilots
A.J. argues a stable defense business has to come first, before any commercial hypersonic flight
A hypersonic airliner would be "an ocean crosser," not a round-the-world aircraft
Hermeus wants its success to clear the way for other new aircraft makers, not to be the only one
1. Why Hermeus Flies Unmanned
Hermeus flies its Quarterhorse test aircraft without a pilot, and both guests said that is what lets it move faster than Boom Supersonic, which is building a manned jet. Mk 2.1 is roughly the size of an F-16 and uses the same engine.
Hermeus went supersonic with almost no flight hours on the aircraft
"That aircraft had 45 minutes of flight time on it before it went Mach 1.21." — A.J. Piplica
That flight was Mk 2.1's third. The goal for the fourth, flown on the day of the recording, was north of Mach 1.5. Zach said that pace is not normal in modern aerospace, where programs often spend years raising top speed in increments of 0.1 Mach.
A.J. Piplica compares Hermeus's approach to SpaceX blowing up rockets
"This is sort of what Elon's done in blowing up rockets in the pursuit of accelerating the programs and learning... that are much easier to do with unmanned systems." — A.J. Piplica
With no one aboard, a lost aircraft costs money and time, not a life. That is the trade A.J. says Hermeus has built its schedule around.
