Engines
Hermeus Brings the HEAT with Hypersonic Test Facility
Location incorporates upgraded former NAS equipment at Cecil Airport
Hermeus testing Pratt & Whitney F100 in new HEAT hypersonics test facility
Hermeus has already tested the Pratt & Whitney F100 in its recently opened HEAT high-speed test facility

High-speed aircraft developer Hermeus has brought online the first phase of a facility designed to address what it calls a critical shortage of hypersonic test infrastructure. The High Enthalpy Air-Breathing Test (HEAT) facility has already been used to complete a series of trials on a Pratt & Whitney F100, the base engine model that will power Hermeus’ supersonic and hypersonic test vehicles.

Based at Cecil Airport in Jacksonville, Florida, the HEAT facility incorporates upgraded test infrastructure from the former Cecil Naval Air Station. Hermeus inherited test cells built in 1959 and an aircraft “hush house,” or sound-dampening structure, that followed in 1989, the company said. It is updating these facilities to provide a venue for modern military and commercial engine testing.

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