The European Space Agency’s (ESA) INVICTUS hypersonic aircraft programme has cleared its first major requirements review and moved into the next phase of development, with a second review expected in October 2027.
Stephan Carroll, INVICTUS chief engineer at Frazer-Nash, confirmed on LinkedIn on 23 October that the programme had successfully completed its first System Requirements Review (SRR-1) in March 2026. According to Carroll, the company held back on announcing the milestone “while subsequent programme planning activities were agreed with ESA and UKSA.”
“With the next phase Kick-Off, the programme is on track towards SRR-2, currently planned for October 2027,” Carroll wrote.
According to Carroll, work on the aircraft’s design has progressed across several areas, including aerodynamics, propulsion, pre-cooling, systems engineering, safety, certification and cost modelling.
Frazer-Nash was awarded a €7 million ESA contract in July 2025 to conduct the initial design work for the INVICTUS programme. Through the programme, ESA aims to develop a reusable hypersonic test aircraft capable of reaching Mach 5.
In its original procurement documents, ESA envisaged a Mach 5 flight by 2028. However, when Frazer-Nash formally announced the programme in July 2025, the company was targeting the first flight of a Mach 5-capable aircraft in early 2031. In June 2026, ESA’s INVICTUS technical lead, David Perigo, indicated that the programme was expected to be well into integrated propulsion testing by around 2032, suggesting that the aircraft’s first flight may have been pushed back by at least a year, potentially longer.
