Mach

Mach Industries was founded in 2023 by Ethan Thornton, who grew up on a West Texas farm and briefly attended MIT through Air Force ROTC before leaving to start the company. The original thesis was that hydrogen could be stabilized for field use and turned into a propellant for tactical weapons and aircraft. After a hydrogen test accident forced an early reset, the company broadened into a wider portfolio of defense hardware while keeping hydrogen propulsion as a core research thread. Current programs include Viper, a vertical-takeoff hydrogen-powered drone, Glide, a hypersonic glide bomb deployable from very high altitude, and Stratos, a high-altitude pseudo-satellite used to carry sensors, communications, and effects thousands of miles from launch. The company has raised over $100 million and is scaling manufacturing across multiple US sites. Most engineering and propulsion work happens at facilities in Southern California and Texas.