The US Air Force and AFRL are developing a low‑cost hypersonic demonstrator nicknamed Angry Tortoise, combining an existing ET‑2 target airframe with Ursa Major’s liquid‑fuel Draper rocket motor. The Air Force named the missile “Angry Tortoise” to reflect frustration with the high costs and slow pace of US hypersonic missile development, acknowledging the struggle to compete affordably with international rivals. Funded under a ~$28.6M contract, the additively manufactured design aims to reach ~Mach 4–5 (first flight limited to ~Mach 2 at White Sands) and is intended as an affordable, rapidly producible pathway to tactical hypersonic capability. The program emphasizes public‑private partnerships, quick prototyping, and scalable manufacturing as a response to high costs and delays in earlier US hypersonics efforts, with longer‑range Pacific tests planned in 2026. They write:

The U.S. Air Force is working to combine an aerial target designed to simulate ballistic threats and a liquid-fuel rocket motor into a new, lower-cost hypersonic missile dubbed Angry Tortoise. The first test launch of the experimental design is expected to come by the end of the year. The project reflects growing interest across the U.S. military in pursuing new avenues to field hypersonic weapons, and to do so affordably, after years of persistent struggles in this realm.

Angry Tortoise broke cover at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2025 Air, Space, and Cyber Conference earlier this week, at which TWZ was in attendance. Aerospace firm Ursa Major has confirmed to us that a contract it received from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in May, valued at close to $28.6 million, is for this particular effort. […]

The key element of the current Angry Tortoise design is the 4,000-pound-thrust-class Draper rocket motor, a closed-cycle hydrogen peroxide-kerosene design. Despite being liquid-fueled, Draper can be stored for extended periods of time at room temperature. Most commonly used liquid rocket fuels are volatile and corrosive, which limits how long rocket motors that use them can be left ready-to-fire. This also typically makes them more hazardous to handle after being fueled. […]

“At approx. 60% additively manufactured, Draper costs significantly less than other hypersonic propulsion alternatives,” Ursa Major also told TWZ in response to queries for more information. […]

Ursa Major and AFRL are now presenting Angry Tortoise as one way to try to help change that paradigm.

Read more here.