{"id":2407,"date":"2026-03-05T02:01:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=2407"},"modified":"2026-03-05T02:01:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:01:34","slug":"how-hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-is-closing-in-on-the-sr-71-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=2407","title":{"rendered":"How Hermeus\u2019 Quarterhorse Mk\u202f2.1 Is Closing in on the SR\u201171 Record"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.techeblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/04124622\/hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-sr-71-record-test-flight.jpg\" alt=\"Hermeus Quarterhorse MK2.1 SR-71 Record Test Flight\" width=\"960\" height=\"961\"\/><br \/>On March 2, 2026, Hermeus successfully completed their first flight with the Quarterhorse Mk 2.1, lifting off from Spaceport America in New Mexico and flying over the White Sands Missile Range. From a base station, the team of operators maintained a tight eye on how the systems reacted, how well the plane operated under stress, and so on, basically to see if everything functioned as intended.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-236776\"\/><br \/><iframe title=\"Hermeus Flies Again: Quarterhorse Mk 2.1&#039;s First Flight\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/apuGYFkTc5g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><noscript><iframe title=\"Hermeus Flies Again: Quarterhorse Mk 2.1&#039;s First Flight\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/apuGYFkTc5g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/noscript><br \/>\nIn terms of size and capability, the new bird is a beast, measuring nearly the same size as an F-16 fighter, weighing four times as much as the previous Mk 1 prototype, and being three times larger overall. It\u2019s powered by a Pratt &amp; Whitney F100 engine, similar to that used on F-15 or 16 fighters, with a new inlet precooler added to deal with the heat generated by pushing the envelope during later testing. The designers used a delta wing shape to boost performance once above subsonic speeds.<\/p>\n<div class=\"aawp\">\n<div class=\"aawp-product aawp-product--horizontal\" data-aawp-product-asin=\"B0FJ1S18HF\" data-aawp-product-id=\"221252\" data-aawp-tracking-id=\"tec02e-20\" data-aawp-product-title=\"DJI Neo 2  Drone Only  Lightweight &amp; Foldable 4K Drone With Camera Palm Takeoff &amp; Landing Gesture Control ActiveTrack Omnidirectional Obstacle Sensing\">\n<div class=\"aawp-product__thumb\">\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aawp-product__image\" src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/31tMJ8yb-QL._SL160_.jpg\" alt=\"DJI Neo 2 (Drone Only), Lightweight &amp; Foldable 4K Drone With Camera, Palm Takeoff &amp; Landing, Gesture...\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"aawp-product__content\">\n<p>            DJI Neo 2 (Drone Only), Lightweight &amp; Foldable 4K Drone With Camera, Palm Takeoff &amp; Landing, Gesture&#8230;        <\/p>\n<div class=\"aawp-product__description\">\n<ul>\n<li>Lightweight &amp; Portable Design &#8211; Weighing just 151g [9] and C0 certified, this compact drone features full-coverage propeller guards for safer&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Palm Takeoff &amp; Landing [1], Gesture Control [2] &#8211; Enjoy easy palm takeoff and landing, plus intuitive gesture controls for hands-free operation and&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Smooth &amp; Reliable Tracking &#8211; ActiveTrack [3] keeps your subject in focus, while Apple Watch lets you view live feed, check flight status, or use voice&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThis flight was entirely for confirmation, as there was no need to set any land speed records just yet, hence it remained subsonic the entire time. The announcement did not include specific numbers for height, time, or velocity, but it did signal the beginning of a methodical plan to incrementally push the limits. Let\u2019s not forget that Hermeus flew the Mk 1 for the first time in May 2025, so it\u2019s been less than a year and they\u2019ve already moved on to the next prototype, using the data from the previous one to improve the next.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.techeblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/04124617\/hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-sr-71-record-test-flight-2.jpg\" alt=\"Hermeus Quarterhorse MK2.1 SR-71 Record Test Flight\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\"\/><br \/>The Mk 2 series is all about reaching supersonic speeds, and the team hopes that the Mk 2.2, which is set to arrive next, will rapidly dethrone the title of the world\u2019s fastest unmanned aircraft. The Mk 3 will thereafter use a Chimera turbine-based combined-cycle engine that is meant to easily switch modes, i.e., from a turbine at low speeds to a ramjet at high Mach. Hermeus currently hopes to shatter the SR-71 Blackbirds\u2019 air-breathing speed record of Mach 3.3 (about 2,193 miles per hour), set in 1976, and potentially even push it up to Mach 5.<br \/><span>[Source]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> How Hermeus\u2019 Quarterhorse Mk\u202f2.1 Is Closing in on the SR\u201171 Record<br \/>\n<br \/>#Hermeus #Quarterhorse #Mk2.1 #Closing #SR71 #Record<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On March 2, 2026, Hermeus successfully completed their first flight with the Quarterhorse Mk 2.1,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2008,2005,2007,2006,1369,2009],"class_list":["post-2407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech","tag-closing","tag-hermeus","tag-mk2-1","tag-quarterhorse","tag-record","tag-sr71"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-sr-71-record-test-flight.jpg",960,961,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-sr-71-record-test-flight-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-sr-71-record-test-flight-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-sr-71-record-test-flight-768x769.jpg",640,641,true],"large":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-sr-71-record-test-flight.jpg",640,641,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-sr-71-record-test-flight.jpg",960,961,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-sr-71-record-test-flight.jpg",960,961,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-sr-71-record-test-flight.jpg",960,961,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/news678.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/hermeus-quarterhorse-mk-2-1-sr-71-record-test-flight-540x340.jpg",540,340,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/news678.top\/?cat=8\" rel=\"category\">Tech<\/a>","tag_info":"Tech","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news678.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}