Stephen Kuper

The funding commitment will take effect if the Australian government agrees to back the mission, which would see Australian of the Year Katherine Bennell-Pegg become the first astronaut to fly under the Australian flag after training with the European Space Agency.

The deployment sees a No. 12 Squadron RAAF Boeing P-8A Poseidon operating from Andersen Air Force Base as part of Exercise Sea Dragon 2026, a United States Navy-led training activity focused on high-end submarine detection and tracking.

The visit to RAAF Base East Sale, hosted by No. 1 Flying Training School, showcased significant changes to the Air Force’s training pipeline since Australian Women Pilots’ Association members last toured the facility in 2022.

Brisbane-based aerospace company Hypersonix Launch Systems confirmed that its DART AE hypersonic test aircraft completed the mission following launch from Wallops Flight Facility in the US over the weekend.

The mission will see Hypersonix’s 3.5-metre DART AE hypersonic vehicle carried into the upper atmosphere aboard a HASTE rocket operated by Rocket Lab. The launch window opens at 4pm US Eastern Time on Wednesday, 25 February, corresponding to 7am AEDT on Thursday, 26 February.

The ramp-up in production follows strong performance during ground and flight testing, the manufacturer says, with multiple aircraft now undergoing evaluation.