Announcement • May 02
Starfighters Space Announces Availability of F-104 Starfighter Platform as Airborne Aerodynamic Test Environment Starfighters Space, Inc. announced the availability of its F-104 Starfighter platform as an airborne aerodynamic test environment for the U.S. defense and aerospace community. Starfighters’ fleet of modified F-104 aircraft functions as an airborne test platform capable of replicating aerodynamic conditions that fixed facilities cannot fully reproduce. The F-104’s flight profile allows it to simulate the aerodynamic conditions of the first 30 seconds of a vertical rocket launch, a phase of flight that has historically been among the most difficult to test accurately in a static environment. The platform exposes test articles to turbulent, variable atmospheric conditions representative of actual operational flight, and can carry models closer to production size than most ground-based tunnels permit. Testing complexity can be layered simultaneously, including g-forces, humidity, and dynamic pressure variations, in a single flight profile. The result is a test environment that narrows the gap between laboratory simulation and real-world flight, delivered from a platform that is operational. A single 45-minute Starfighters mission can include a 10-minute Mach 2 test window, generating the equivalent of about 20 traditional 30-second ground wind tunnel runs and compressing what would otherwise take about ten days in a fixed facility into one flight. Starfighters currently serves customers including Lockheed Martin, GE, Innoveering, Meggitt, Space Florida, and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. Flight operations are conducted from the company’s hangar at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, one of the longest runways in the world. Announcement • Apr 02
Starfighters Space, Inc. announced delayed annual 10-K filing On 04/01/2026, Starfighters Space, Inc. announced that they will be unable to file their next 10-K by the deadline required by the SEC. Announcement • Feb 23
Starfighters Space, Inc. Announces Board and Executive Changes Starfighters Space, Inc. announced that company founder Rick Svetkoff, age 72, has resigned as President, Chairman, and Director. Rick Svetkoff joined the U.S. Navy in 1978 and flew the venerable A-4 fighter jets. Svetkoff left the Navy in 1984 and began a new career as a Continental Airlines pilot, prior to founding Starfighters in 1996. Brenda Svetkoff has also resigned as Company Secretary. The board of directors of the company has appointed Tim Franta as Director. Tim Franta has served as Starfighters’ Vice President of Development since October 18, 2022. He is leading development of the STARLAUNCH air-launch system intended to fly rockets capable of delivering payloads to space. Before Starfighters, he was Energy Florida’s Deputy Director in Cape Canaveral from October 2018 to September 2022 and previously Director of Special Projects from 2012 to October 2018. His work focused on space and energy business development, translating financial and technical requirements into fundable business plans and aligning public policy with private and government financing. Earlier, he worked for the Florida Legislature and served as Chief of Staff for the Florida Space Authority, where he helped draft space transportation legislation, oversaw FAA licensing of two launch pads, and supported more than $300 million in space and ground infrastructure funding. He also authored the Florida Space Transportation Act. 
