German firm to build two-stage hypersonic plane with horizontal takeoff and landing

German company Polaris Spaceplanes has been awarded a contract by Germany’s Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology, and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) to develop and flight test a two-stage reusable hypersonic test vehicle under the Hypersonic Test and Experimentation Vehicle (HYTEV) program. Scheduled to be flight-ready by the end of 2027, the vehicle is designed with a main stage powered by two turbofan engines and an aerospike rocket engine, and an upper rocket-powered stage that accelerates the craft to hypersonic speeds before separation. The spaceplane, roughly the size and take-off mass of a fighter jet, aims to support military and scientific research and could also function as a reconnaissance platform in low Earth orbit, offering real-time intelligence while being resistant to anti-satellite weapons. Polaris Spaceplanes has been developing key propulsion technologies leading up to this contract, including the successful in-flight ignition test of its AS-1 linear aerospike rocket engine