Starfighters Space, Inc. (NYSE:FJET) shares traded lower Friday after the company outlined its next STARLAUNCH program milestone.
The update followed recent wind tunnel work on the STARLAUNCH I rocket concept.
Starfighters Space said it will move into a Critical Design Review with support from GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE) after completing wind tunnel testing.
The company framed the review as a gate toward build and test planning.
Design Review Next Step
Starfighters said the Critical Design Review will occur within the next two weeks for its demonstrator vehicle effort.
The company said the process tests design readiness before major fabrication and formal testing. It plans to review interfaces between the vehicle and its carrier aircraft.
Starfighters also expects the review to focus on configuration control and manufacturability.
Testing Points To Clean Separation
The company said wind tunnel work supported clean separation behavior from its aircraft-based launch platform.
It also said the results matched its computational modeling across tested conditions. Starfighters positioned that correlation as an early risk-reduction signal for the program.
The company aims to turn those findings into flight-relevant validation.
Starfighters said it has started purchasing an instrumented demonstrator vehicle for underwing flights.
The company plans to use the flights to study separation dynamics under real conditions. It expects the verification path to move from ground checks to drop testing. It then plans a later stage of flight evaluation.
GE Aerospace Role
Starfighters said GE Aerospace has supported earlier engineering and flight test activities for STARLAUNCH work.
The company said it will leverage GE participation to sharpen execution discipline. It also said GE involvement could speed risk reduction ahead of later build decisions.
The company did not provide a timetable for operational launches.
Program Goal And Use Cases
Starfighters described STARLAUNCH I as a suborbital vehicle for short microgravity missions.
It also positioned the effort as a pathfinder for future air-launched systems. The company said validated separation knowledge also supports its broader aerospace testing services.
It cited potential applications that require clean separation for advanced flight programs.
“We execute STARLAUNCH as a series of practical, documented steps to space,” said Tim Franta, Director and VP Development at Starfighters. “A critical design review is where we confirm that the design is ready for the next phase. Our team is dedicated and focused on the mission, and we are staying disciplined as we progress STARLAUNCH 1.”
FJET Price Action: Starfighters shares are trading lower by 2.14% to $10.50 at last check Friday.
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