Aerojet-Rocketdyne has made considerable advances, and their are others.
Good to hear, but (so far) that progress has not been reflected in the testing program. Obviously, not everything being done in the lab or on the range makes its way into the media. But HGV is a critical technology and we need to be at the front of the pack, not behind.
The fact that Aerojet is largely doing it on their own dime is depressing. Hopefully, there’s a ton of black program money that’s also supporting the effort, but Barry has willfully ignored our strategic platforms for eight years and HGV falls into that category. So, it’s no surprise Aerojet has had to dig into its own pocket to partially fund the effort.
On the other hand, there have been some rare successes, like the Boeing/USAF space plane, still circling the earth after 500+ days in LEO. Bet the boys in Beijing and Moscow spend a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what that craft (and its payload) are up to. Of course, the R&D for that project came under Bush #43, not Obama. Left up to Zero, the space plane would still be on the drawing board.