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Space has raised $40m to accelerate its plans for air-launched space access and hypersonic testing. The Florida-based company is now preparing to scale operations around its fleet of supersonic aircraft.

The funding was secured as Starfighters began trading publicly on the NYSE American, marking its transition from a Regulation A Tier 2 offering to a listed aerospace company.

Chief executive and founder Rick Svetkoff said the capital would be used to advance research and development, expand flight operations and push forward the company’s STARLAUNCH I and STARLAUNCH II programmes.

With the listing completed, Starfighters says its focus is now on converting long-standing technical concepts into operational capability, including the start of launch activity from Texas and the expansion of its hypersonic research, development, test and evaluation business.

STARLAUNCH: Starfighters’ piloted air-launch system for small satellites

At the heart of Starfighters’ business plan is STARLAUNCH, a two-stage air-launch concept designed to deploy small satellites and sub-orbital payloads from a piloted supersonic aircraft rather than a ground-based rocket.

Under the concept, a modified F-104 acts as the first stage, carrying a small launch vehicle to high altitude before release. The company argues that this approach offers greater flexibility than fixed launch sites, with the ability to operate from conventional runways, avoid range congestion and tailor launch profiles to individual missions.

Starfighters’ approach inevitably invites comparison with Virgin Orbit, which attempted to before . That failure highlighted the difficulty of making air-launch economically viable at scale, particularly when paired with high operating costs and limited launch cadence.

Starfighters believes its model differs in key ways, notably through the use of smaller, lower-cost aircraft, a piloted test environment and a parallel revenue stream from hypersonic and aerospace test work. Rather than relying solely on satellite launch, the company is positioning STARLAUNCH as one element of a broader portfolio that includes flight test, training and research support.

Starfighter’s fleet of vintage F-104 Starfighter jets

What sets Starfighters apart is its aircraft fleet. The company operates a fleet of Lockheed F-104 Starfighters, a Cold War-era interceptor that first flew in 1954 and entered service in the late 1950s.

By modern military standards, the aircraft are undeniably vintage. Most F-104 airframes were built in the 1950s and 1960s, with the type retired from frontline service decades ago. Yet the Starfighter retains attributes that remain rare today, including sustained Mach 2 performance, exceptional climb rate and the ability to reach high altitude quickly.

Starfighters has already used the aircraft for flight test, aerospace research and advanced pilot training, leveraging the jet’s performance envelope as a cost-effective alternative to bespoke hypersonic platforms.

The company argues that the F-104’s well-understood aerodynamics, combined with modern avionics and maintenance practices, make it a reliable and adaptable testbed.

In an era when much of the space sector is moving towards autonomous vehicles and vertical launch, Starfighters is deliberately pursuing a different path, betting that piloted, reusable supersonic aircraft still have a role to play at the edge of space.

Whether that bet pays off where others have struggled remains to be seen. But with fresh capital secured and a clearly defined focus on both launch and test operations, Starfighters is positioning itself as one of the more unconventional players in the evolving near-space economy.