As early as 2020, it was reported that the talon-a supersonic aircraft would be released from the world's largest aircraft at an altitude of 35000 feet (10000 meters) The latest news says that the beta version of talon-a ta-0 will be unveiled this week
The talon-a and its ROC carrier are designed by stratolaunch, a California aerospace company. Earlier this month, ROC, the world's largest aircraft, successfully completed its fifth test flight. According to the company, ROC flew over the Mojave Desert for 4 hours and 58 minutes, reaching an altitude of 22500 feet (6858 meters).
ROC has two side-by-side fuselages, six Boeing 747 engines, 28 wheels, and wings extending 385 feet (117 meters) from the top to the end. It is currently the largest aircraft with wingspan in the world.
The plan initially required ROC aircraft to carry launch vehicles into the stratosphere and then release them. These vehicles will then launch their rocket engines and carry their spacecraft payloads into low earth orbit. The idea is that it will be much easier to launch a spacecraft in this way than to let a carrier rocket take off directly from the ground and fight against the earth's gravity all the way, and use much less fuel.
After the ownership of the company changed, it was decided to use ROC to release the pilotless talon-a aircraft, which would fly at a speed of more than Mach 5, and then land on the runway autonomously.
Ta-0 is not the completed rocket powered version of talon-a, but a test aircraft, which will be used to evaluate and verify the system, which will be released from the bottom of the ROC's middle wing (the wing part between the fuselages). There is not much information about ta-0.