Starfighters Space, Inc.

Starfighters Space CEO Tim Franta outlined the company's dual focus on hypersonic component testing and small-payload launch services in a recent Fighter Pilot Podcast interview. The company uses a fleet of seven F-104 aircraft as a 'wind tunnel in the sky' to provide sustained Mach 2 test conditions for hypersonic program components, offering longer test durations than ground wind tunnels. Its launch business aims to use the F-104 as an airborne first stage for the planned STARLAUNCH 1 suborbital rocket targeting 100 kilometers and a future STARLAUNCH 2 orbital system, targeting the small-satellite market. Franta emphasized a safety-first, high-cadence approach modeled on operators like SpaceX and Rocket Lab, while acknowledging regulatory and financing hurdles ahead. The interview also noted Starfighters' test support for GE Aerospace's ATLAS hypersonic igniter program.

General Electric moved to expand its board by electing Microsoft executive Judson Althoff as an independent director, while GE Aerospace deepened its role in advanced technologies through support for Starfighters Space's STARLAUNCH 1 design review and a Memorandum of Understanding with Wolfspeed on high-voltage silicon carbide power modules. Alongside these developments, GE Vernova's small modular reactor component partnership in Ontario highlights how the group is tying aerospace, power electronics, and nuclear technologies more closely into emerging energy and space ecosystems. The Wolfspeed agreement speaks directly to high-voltage power electronics that could feed into future aerospace and defense platforms, sitting alongside programs like RISE and GE9X as part of the broader effort to maintain technology leadership, even if its financial impact will take time to show up. General Electric's narrative projects $59.2 billion in revenue and $10.8 billion in earnings by 2029, requiring 7.0% yearly revenue growth and about a $2.2 billion earnings increase from $8.6 billion today.