The Direction générale de l’armement (DGA), the French procurement and technology agency carried out the inaugural test firing of a sounding rocket carrying the V-MAX hypersonic glider demonstrator on June 26, 2023.

“Equipped with many on-board technological innovations, this flight test was an unprecedented technical challenge that prepares the future of our national hypervelocity roadmap,” the DGA commented the day after the test. “France is one of the only countries in the world to have credible expertise in this field.”