The project Hypersonic Propulsion 14-X, PropHiper, aims to demonstrate, by means of native-born technologies, the autonomous hypersonic flight with airbreathing propulsion. To achieve its objective, the project was subdivided into four major goals, associated, respectively, with the flight tests of the technology demonstrators designated by 14-X S, 14-X SP, 14-X W, and 14-X WP:

i) 14-X S: ballistic flight demonstration of supersonic combustion;

ii) 14-X SP: ballistic flight demonstration of airbreathing hypersonic propulsion;

iii) 14-X W: demonstration in plane flight (without propulsion) of the guidance, navigation and control systems (GNC), associated with the use of advanced materials, during the autonomous hypersonic flight in the stratosphere; and

iv) 14-X WP: demonstration in an autonomous flight of GNC systems with active airbreathing hypersonic propulsion.

The first two in-flight tests refer to basic and applied research on an airbreathing hypersonic engine, commonly known by the English acronym SCRAMJET (Supersonic Combustion RAMJET), based on supersonic combustion of hydrogen and atmospheric air. While the 14-X S has the mission of establishing the starting conditions of the engine in flight, the 14-X SP aims to demonstrate the thrust production through the airbreathing hypersonic propulsion. In both cases, the nominal operating conditions of the engine are between 30 and 40 km in altitude (stratospheric flight) and Mach number between 6 and 7. To reach them, the scramjet engine will be tested in a captive ballistic flight to a vehicle accelerator based on the national suborbital vehicle VSB-30.

The two subsequent goals are associated with the use of airbreathing hypersonic propulsion in a short autonomous flight. To this end, the 14-XW's mission aims to demonstrate in flight the adequate performance of the GNC subsystems and advanced materials during the planned flight (without propulsion), and the vehicle's support, whose principle is based on the use of conical shock waves produced during the hypersonic flight. Finally, the 14-X WP is designed to perform level flight with active airbreathing hypersonic propulsion with all integrated systems and subsystems. For these both demonstrators, the nominal operating conditions are the stratospheric flight at Mach 10. To achieve the operating conditions, the demonstrators will use a more powerful accelerator vehicle, the VS-50, currently under development in Brazil.