Roc is the world’s largest fixed-wing aircraft by wingspan, measuring 385 feet from tip to tip and taking off at 1.3 million pounds, according to the Roc page published by Stratolaunch.

Roc gets its power from six engines, all of them taken from Boeing 747s.

The aircraft is one of Stratolaunch’s airborne launch platforms, and the company says it exists for advanced hypersonic flight testing. Stratolaunch credits Roc’s payload capacity as the reason it suits that work. The job involves carrying a vehicle up under the wing, climbing to altitude and letting it go in the air.

Stratolaunch lists Roc on its site under air launch platforms, alongside Spirit of Mojave and a category labeled future vehicles. The Roc page itself includes a 3D model of the aircraft that visitors can rotate.

Built to drop things

Roc was specifically designed as an airborne launch platform, Stratolaunch says.

The company says the aircraft can carry large payloads beneath its center wing section and release them during flight. Its published list of Roc’s capabilities runs to four items: airborne launch platform, heavy payload capacity, specialized hypersonic flight test missions and flexible launch operations.

Stratolaunch does not put a number on that payload capacity anywhere on the page.

Why launch from the air

Stratolaunch lists four advantages to launching vehicles from altitude: reduced fuel requirements, flexible launch locations, weather avoidance and increased operational responsiveness.

The company does not expand on any of the four on the Roc page. It presents the aircraft’s wingspan, its take-off weight and its engine count as a set of figures, and the page includes a button inviting visitors to launch a payload.

Roc takes its name from a legendary bird of prey in Arabian folklore. Stratolaunch says the bird was said to be large enough to launch full grown elephants, and that ancient Arabian folklore knows it for carrying sailors to safety.

Stratolaunch describes itself as a pure-play hypersonics company focused on the design, manufacture and operation of advanced aerospace systems for national security. The company is headquartered in Mojave, California.

Sources: