The world's only commercial fleet capable of flying payloads at sustained MACH 2+ — to space. A SpaceX IPO is on deck. A $1.8 trillion space economy is forming. And every flight test program needs a runway from simulation to flight. Starfighters has built it.
NYSE American–listed aerospace company. Owner and operator of the world's largest fleet of commercial supersonic aircraft. Operating from the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center. Current programs span air-launch (with GE Aerospace), reusable hypersonic flight testing (with Blackstar Orbital), microgravity missions (with Mu-G Technologies), and the C-STARS academic research consortium.
Starfighters plays a role in bridging the gap between concept and flight for next-generation aerospace systems — providing a proven, high-performance environment to test and validate those systems in real-world conditions.
A modified F-104 fleet at NASA's Shuttle Landing Facility, configured to carry payloads to the edge of space.
The Starfighters platform is operationally configurable as the first stage lifting platform for air-launch architectures, simulated launch profiles, sensor testing, hypersonic test programs, and astronaut and pilot training — all from a single airframe class operating from one of the most strategically positioned aerospace facilities in the world.
Air-Launch Platform Services
First-stage lifting platform for payloads up to 45,000 feet for air launch to space. Active program: STARLAUNCH 1 with GE Aerospace, advancing toward Critical Design Review following completed wind tunnel testing.
Microgravity Flight Operations
Zero-gravity flight profiles for research, payload development, and life-sciences testing. Active program: partnership with Mu-G Technologies to support microgravity flight missions across commercial and research customers.
Hypersonic Testing & Reusable Systems
Captive carry, supersonic release, and high-altitude flight test services for next-generation aerospace systems. Active program: expanded Technical Interchange Agreement with Blackstar Orbital for SpaceDrone integration with the F-104 platform.
Pilot & Spaceflight Training
Sustained MACH 2+ training profiles for astronaut and military aviation programs, with applications across launch profile simulation and spaceflight readiness — leveraging the same airframe class used for operational mission services.
+ Texas
Dual-Site Operations
Two months. Five inflection points. New leadership, new partnerships, and a 10-K filing.
Joined the C-STARS Consortium — NSF-backed space manufacturing research center.
Joined the proposed Center for Science, Technology, and Advanced Research in Space (C-STARS), an NSF Industry–University Cooperative Research Center based at the University of Florida, with partners at Florida Institute of Technology, Florida A&M University, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Focus areas: biotechnology, advanced materials, electronics, and in-space manufacturing. Starfighters has committed $50,000 annually if NSF funding is awarded, plus an additional contribution to demonstrate support regardless of award outcome.
Filed fiscal 2025 Annual Report on Form 10-K with the SEC.
Annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in accordance with NYSE American requirements. Filing includes audited consolidated financial statements, related notes, and management's discussion and analysis. Available on SEC EDGAR and the Company's website.
Expanded Blackstar Orbital Technical Interchange Agreement.
Announced at the 41st Space Symposium. Broader scope covers integration of Blackstar's SpaceDrone BX-02C.2 test article with the F-104 platform: vehicle physical characterization, carriage and release simulations, wind tunnel testing, mock-up validation, telemetry and data requirements, drop-test and recovery planning, and FAA, NASA, and range coordination. Hardware transferred: BL-75 complete assembly, counterbalance, sway braces, and jettison piston.
Initial Blackstar Orbital partnership announced at Satellite 2026 conference.
Strategic partnership with Blackstar Orbital to advance flight testing of next-generation reusable hypersonic space systems. Technical Interchange Agreement framework for integrating Blackstar's lifting-body "SpaceDrone" with the F-104 platform. Supersonic captive carry flights expected in Q4 FY26, culminating in a high-altitude supersonic release in the Eastern Range off the Florida Atlantic Coast. BL75 pylon provided as the structural interface between F-104 and SpaceDrone.
New CEO appointed; STARLAUNCH 1 moves to Critical Design Review.
The Board appointed Tim Franta — existing director and VP Development — as Chief Executive Officer on February 22, 2026, following the resignation of founder Rick Svetkoff (72), providing leadership continuity from within the existing management team. Concurrently, the Company announced that following the successful completion of subsonic and supersonic wind tunnel testing for STARLAUNCH 1 (announced January 21, 2026), the program would advance to Critical Design Review with GE Aerospace support, with procurement of an instrumented demonstrator vehicle initiated. Earlier in the same week, the executive team rang the NYSE Opening Bell® on February 20, 2026.
A SpaceX IPO on deck and a $1.8T space economy forming around it.
SpaceX's confidential S-1 filing on April 1, 2026 targets a $1.75 trillion valuation with a June roadshow — a fundamental re-rating event for space infrastructure and adjacent platform companies.
The global space economy is projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, driven by satellite communications, in-space manufacturing, hypersonics, and reusable systems converging into a unified commercial demand environment.
Government space budgets are exceeding $100 billion annually worldwide, with U.S. agencies funding hypersonic test infrastructure, responsive launch capabilities, and dual-use commercial-defense aerospace platforms.
Rocket Lab's $190M contract for 20 dedicated HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) launches is the largest single launch contract in the company's history — a direct signal of demand for hypersonic test infrastructure.
The companies enabling responsive launch, reusable hypersonic systems, and high-cadence flight test programs are drawing capital from defense and commercial markets simultaneously — and Starfighters operates at the intersection.
Five reasons this is the moment.
A genuinely unique commercial capability.
Starfighters is the only commercial company in the world with the ability to fly payloads at sustained MACH 2+ and with the capability to launch those payloads to space. That's not a market position to win — it's a capability that is already singular in the world. The platform is operational today, flying from one of the most strategically positioned aerospace facilities ever built — NASA's Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center.
Globally
Multiple active partnerships across mission categories.
STARLAUNCH 1 with GE Aerospace (advancing to Critical Design Review). Blackstar Orbital reusable hypersonic SpaceDrone integration (expanded TIA, Q4 FY26 captive carry tests planned). Mu-G Technologies for microgravity flight missions. C-STARS NSF research consortium with University of Florida and three partner universities. The platform is being booked across air-launch, hypersonic test, microgravity, and academic/government research simultaneously.
Programs
Operational expansion underway to meet demand.
Aircraft, engines, and support equipment relocations are underway to Midland International Air & Space Port in Texas to support an anticipated increase in mission cadence — converting the platform from a single-site Florida operation into a dual-site East Coast/Central US footprint. The expansion is structured around growing flight test demand from hypersonic, air-launch, and microgravity customers.
Mission Cadence
SpaceX IPO is a sector re-rating event — and infrastructure plays often move first.
SpaceX's confidential S-1 filing on April 1, 2026 with a $1.75T target valuation and June roadshow has reshaped the space sector investment landscape. AST SpaceMobile's $70.9M 2025 revenue with $150–200M 2026 guidance and $1.2B+ contracted commitments demonstrates the velocity of revenue ramps in the sector. Rocket Lab's $190M HASTE contract signals where defense-commercial demand is concentrating. Hypersonic and reusable space testing infrastructure sits squarely in that lane.
by 2035
New CEO with continuity and a former Congressman's endorsement.
Tim Franta was already inside the company as VP Development and a director when appointed CEO on February 22, 2026 — preserving leadership continuity from within the existing management team. Bill Posey, former U.S. Congressman (2009–2025) representing Florida's Space Coast, publicly endorsed Franta's appointment, citing more than 20 years of working together on commercializing space.
Working Relationship
The questions analysts ask first.
Q.01What is Starfighters Space actually selling — flights, services, or infrastructure?
Starfighters is best understood as aerospace flight test infrastructure — the runway between simulation and flight that nearly every other space company needs and almost no one else operates commercially. The company sells access to the only commercial fleet capable of sustained MACH 2+ flight with payload-to-space capability. Customers acquire flight services across four categories: air-launch (STARLAUNCH 1 with GE Aerospace), hypersonic captive carry and release testing (Blackstar Orbital SpaceDrone), microgravity research flights (Mu-G Technologies), and pilot and spaceflight training. Operating from NASA's Shuttle Landing Facility provides direct co-location with the highest-density U.S. commercial launch corridor.
Q.02The founder resigned in February. What happened, and why should investors trust the transition?
On February 19, 2026, founder Rick Svetkoff (72) and his spouse, Brenda Svetkoff (Company Secretary), resigned, citing disagreements with the Board over operations, policies, and practices. The Company has stated that it respectfully disagrees with the substance, assertions, and characterizations in both resignation letters. The Board moved promptly to install Tim Franta — already a director and VP Development at Starfighters — as CEO on February 22, 2026, preserving operational continuity from within the existing management team. CFO David Whitney remained in place. Independent directors include Sean Bromley, Brian Goldmeier, and Geoffrey P. Hickman. Bill Posey, the former U.S. Congressman who represented Florida's Space Coast through 2025, publicly endorsed Franta with a 20-year working history. In the weeks following the transition, the Company has announced signed partnerships with Blackstar Orbital (initial March 30 and expanded April 15), the C-STARS consortium (April 22), and the timely filing of its fiscal 2025 Form 10-K on April 16.
Q.03How meaningful is the Blackstar Orbital partnership, and when does it generate revenue?
The Blackstar partnership is structured as a Technical Interchange Agreement (TIA) — an iterative engineering framework that progresses from feasibility planning through integration, captive carry, and high-altitude supersonic release testing. The initial TIA was announced March 30, 2026 at Satellite 2026; the expanded scope was announced April 15, 2026 at the 41st Space Symposium, broadening the work program to vehicle physical characterization, simulations, wind tunnel testing, telemetry, drop-test and recovery planning, and FAA/NASA/range approvals. The companies expect supersonic captive carry flights in Q4 FY26 and a high-altitude supersonic release in the Eastern Range off the Florida Atlantic Coast. Both companies publicly state the relationship is structured to evolve into a broader flight services engagement as the program advances. Revenue from any expansion beyond feasibility into operational flight testing is subject to a separate written agreement.
Q.04What about the launch license? Is Starfighters cleared to fly customer payloads to space today?
The company explicitly identifies "the approval of the Company's application for a launch license and the timing thereof" as a forward-looking risk factor in its public filings. Today, the F-104 fleet flies operationally for flight test, training, and integration support. Future revenue scaling from the air-launch architecture is gated on regulatory approvals — and that timing is inherently uncertain. Investors should size positions with that gating in mind. The expanded Midland Texas operations, multiple active partner programs, and STARLAUNCH 1 advancement to CDR all build value alongside the launch license track, but the air-launch revenue ramp is the most policy-sensitive component of the platform.
Q.05What is the principal risk an investor should weigh?
Starfighters is a development-stage aerospace company with material risks identified in its public filings, including: the ability to obtain necessary permits and approvals to operate, the timing of the Company's launch license application, the Midland Texas expansion, market adoption of the Company's satellite deployment method, continued business arrangements with strategic partners, market trends and competition in the space sector, and the future diversification of revenue streams. Several of the platform's most material future revenue sources are gated on regulatory approvals or partnership scope expansion. Stock volatility is meaningful — FJET closed at $6.84 on April 22, 2026, well below its all-time high of $31.50 reached in December 2025, and the company carries a trailing twelve-month loss per share of approximately $0.34. Investors should review the Form 10-K filed April 16, 2026 and subsequent filings for the complete risk picture.
Q.06Why is now the moment — and not in twelve months?
Three converging factors define the current window: (i) SpaceX's confidential S-1 filing on April 1, 2026 with a $1.75T valuation target and June roadshow is reshaping the space sector investment landscape, with infrastructure plays historically moving ahead of the headline IPO; (ii) the platform has compressed five inflection points into approximately two months — new CEO with continuity, STARLAUNCH 1 to CDR, Blackstar Orbital initial partnership, Blackstar expanded TIA, and the C-STARS consortium — building a multi-program book of work simultaneously; and (iii) the macro space backdrop — $1.8T economy projection by 2035, $100B+ annual government space budgets, and Rocket Lab's $190M HASTE contract as a comparable — is structurally favorable to flight test infrastructure operators with genuine technical differentiation.
From the Shuttle Landing Facility to orbit — and the runway in between.
Starfighters Space, Inc. (NYSE American: FJET) trades on NYSE American. Investor materials, recent press releases, the fiscal 2025 Form 10-K filed April 16, 2026, and partnership announcements are available through the Company's investor relations channels.
