Forge & Flight Holdings completed the first flight of its high-speed research platform on May 11, 2026. The company-funded program is targeting a performance objective of Mach 1.4.
The program is conducted entirely from internal company resources. No external development funding, government contract, or commercial partnership has been announced in connection with this program at this time.
Why This Matters
Most unmanned aircraft development in the commercial and lower-tier defense space focuses on extending endurance, improving payload capacity, and reducing unit cost. High-speed performance represents a different engineering challenge — one that involves different structural requirements, propulsion architectures, and aerodynamic tradeoffs than the low-and-slow envelope that dominates Group 1 through Group 3 UAS development.
The company’s work in this area is conducted in parallel with its production platform portfolio and does not affect the availability or delivery timeline of any current platform product line.
What We Can Say
First flight occurred May 11, 2026 at a test location in North Carolina. The program exists, the aircraft flew, and the Mach 1.4 performance target remains the design objective. Beyond those facts, the program is subject to export control review and no further technical disclosure is authorized at this time.
Questions about this program should be directed to [email protected]. Government and DoD inquiries will be routed to appropriate personnel.