The U.S. Air Force is accelerating its advancement in the field of hypersonic weapons. The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and commercial rocket engine company Ursa Major announced that its mass-produced "Draper" liquid rocket engine has completed its first flight in a flight test and successfully achieved its planned test goals.
In the field of hypersonic missiles, it is generally believed that the United States lags behind Russia and China in public deployment progress. Russia has claimed to be equipped with systems such as Zircon and Avangard, while China is operating hypersonic weapons such as Dongfeng-17. In contrast, the United States has not yet officially installed an operational hypersonic system. This status quo has even been described as a "hypersonic gap."
However, the article pointed out that there are still many unresolved technical and cost issues behind the hypersonic systems that some countries have "preemptively put into service". The overall cost of hypersonic missiles is estimated to be about one-third higher than that of ballistic missiles of the same level with mobile warheads, and their life cycle costs can even be as high as about US$1 billion per missile, which greatly restricts the actual number of deployments.
A major bottleneck in the current development of hypersonic weapons lies in the propulsion system, especially the solid rocket motor used to boost hypersonic glide vehicles and cruise missiles. Its production capacity, materials and processes all constitute constraints. In addition, in order to withstand the extreme high temperatures generated during hypersonic flight, the entire system requires a large amount of special high-temperature materials, and is also limited by the number of skilled workers and complex manufacturing infrastructure.
In terms of propellants, traditional high-energy liquid fuels such as liquid hydrogen and hydrazine are extremely demanding and highly dangerous in terms of storage and operation. They have long been one of the problems in system cost and logistics support.
The article believes that the United States may be adopting a strategy similar to the “race to the moon” during the Cold War in the hypersonic field. At that time, the Soviet Union continued to take the lead in publicly visible "firsts in space," including the first artificial satellite, the first animal in space, the first astronaut, the first female astronaut, the first space walk, etc., while the United States focused its resources on the ultimate goal of sending astronauts to the moon, and focused more on solidly building long-term and sustainable space capabilities.
This historical analogy is used to illustrate that in the hypersonic weapons competition, the superficial lead of "who can put it on the shelf first" may not necessarily be converted into a final victory in system capabilities. The author hints that the United States may pay more attention to the maturity of basic levels of technology, manufacturing and logistical support, rather than just "preempting official announcements" of equipment entering service.
In this context, the first flight of the Draper liquid rocket engine is regarded as a key verification of the United States’ scalable and affordable hypersonic weapon propulsion system. On January 27, 2026, AFRL conducted a demonstration flight with the Ursa Major using the Draper engine. While specific details remain confidential, Ursa Major said the test vehicle reached supersonic speeds during flight.
This test flight marks the transition of the Draper engine from the ground bench verification stage to the actual flight verification stage. Through the real flight environment, the engineering team was able to evaluate the stability of the propellant under flight conditions, engine throttle control performance, and the actual response performance of the entire propulsion system under various flight conditions, thereby providing data support for subsequent engineering applications.
The Draper engine is positioned as a "low-cost, scalable, and easy-to-operate" propulsion solution for a new generation of hypersonic systems. Different from traditional high-risk fuels, this engine uses a combination of high-concentration hydrogen peroxide and kerosene as propellant, which is relatively easier to store and operate, and has advantages in terms of safety and logistical maintenance.
Hydrogen peroxide was used for submarine and torpedo propulsion during World War II. It had a reputation of being "explosive and unstable" due to immature early purification and control technologies. However, the article points out that NASA and other agencies have accumulated a lot of experience in the purification and controlled use of hydrogen peroxide over the past few decades, allowing this propellant to be used safely in modern spacecraft propulsion systems and is no longer a high-risk medium that "explodes at every turn."
The Draper engine also uses a large number of 3D printed parts. This manufacturing method not only helps to shorten the production cycle and reduce the cost of a single machine, but also helps achieve high-volume on-demand manufacturing in the future. Combined with a safer and easier-to-storage propellant combination, the engine is expected to significantly reduce the cost of a single hypersonic missile and create sufficient combat readiness capabilities faster.
Chris Spagnoletti, CEO of Ursa Major, said in a statement that this flight verification shows that an aircraft using a safe, storable, adjustable-thrust liquid engine can complete the entire process from design to first flight in a short time and at a low cost. According to its disclosure, it only took about eight months from signing the contract to making the entire aircraft and propulsion system flight-ready.
For the U.S. Air Force, if a new generation of liquid rocket engines such as Draper can continue to verify its reliability and scalable production capabilities in subsequent tests, it is expected to provide a more cost-controllable and lighter logistics support propulsion option for future hypersonic missiles, thus narrowing or even reversing the so-called "hypersonic gap" at the long-term deployment level.