World View, SNC Complete Record-Breaking Flight, Validating Critical Platform Advancements

New Enhancements Deliver Unprecedented Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) and Communication Capabilities

TUCSON, Ariz. (November 13, 2025) World View and SNC today announced the successful completion of a Gryphon high-altitude balloon (HAB) flight, a milestone mission that set new endurance and performance records while validating transformative engineering upgrades across the platform. Together, these advancements significantly expand World View’s industry-leading size, weight, and power (SWaP) capabilities, unlocking new possibilities for defense, intelligence, and commercial customers.

The Gryphon HAB mission flew for 49 days and was concluded after all mission objectives were met, and an ideal landing location was selected that enabled recovery and rapid MRO of the Stratocraft for immediate re-use. During its multiple-turn journey, the HAB traveled 13,166 miles, demonstrating exceptional reliability and operational resilience.

Mission Highlights and Breakthrough

• Extended Endurance and Precision Control: Maintained station within a 50nm radius for seven consecutive days, showcasing unmatched persistence and accuracy.
• Power System Innovation: A next-generation Battery Management System increased continuous power capacity by 150%, reinforcing World View’s leadership in high-altitude power available for payloads.
• First-of-its-Kind Communications: Flew three independent communications systems with isolated capabilities. This breakthrough enables secure, segregated data transmission across multiple payloads and customers on a single flight. This advancement is a game-changer for defense applications.
• Open Mission System (OMS) Integration: Deployed and validated an OMS UCI stratospheric enclave allowing low-latency data transport into multiple C2 ground nodes. This capability is key to a modular open system approach, supporting rapid integration of government and third-party applications.
• Manufacturing Excellence: Enhanced processes produced high-quality ballast and zero-pressure balloons, ensuring mission stability, performance and endurance.
• Persistent Situational Awareness: Delivered live full-motion video feeds for the entire flight, providing continuous visibility through touchdown.
• Engineering Validation: Successfully tested a redesigned Avionics Payload Control system, integral to enhanced future mission capabilities.

“This mission served as a proof point for the future of stratospheric ISR,” said Ryan M. Hartman, CEO of World View. “By validating these critical advancements, we’ve expanded what’s possible for our customers. The Gryphon Retrofit mission demonstrates that persistent, high-altitude platforms can deliver secure, multi-domain capabilities at scale, enabling faster, smarter decisions in complex environments.”

These advancements, along with the company’s significant developments in balloon material science, will become the new baseline for World View’s flagship Gryphon-class Stratollites^®and serve as the foundation for several new Stratollite classes currently in development. These next-generation platforms will provide customers with an expanded range of use cases, from tactical systems to ultra-endurance, heavy-lift solutions that deliver unmatched flexibility and mission adaptability in the most demanding environments.

In 2022, World View and SNC signed a strategic partnership to combine World View's high-altitude balloon technology with SNC's defense and aerospace expertise to enhance stratospheric communications and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. The collaboration provides advanced, real-time data and uninterrupted communications for various commercial, scientific, and government applications.

"Our partnership with World View has enabled significant advancements in payload size, weight, and power (SWaP) capabilities enabling 24/7 multi-domain mission operations of relevant capabilities. We integrated resilient communications and an open mission system architecture for machine-to-machine payload command and control and autonomous operations," said Tim Woods, senior vice president of programs at SNC. "This mission not only validates the robustness and versatility of our joint solutions but also sets a new benchmark for the future of stratospheric operations. Together, we are setting the foundation for persistent, connected, stratospheric operations enabling rapid, affordable warfighter capabilities.”

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World View Communications
media@worldviewexperience.com

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About World View

‍World View is a next-generation intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) provider delivering integrated, multi-domain solutions across air, stratosphere, and space. By unifying tactical UAVs, high-altitude platforms, fixed-wing aircraft, and low-Earth orbit satellites under a single operational and technological framework, the company enables seamless data fusion and real-time decision-making. Leveraging advanced AI and machine learning, World View empowers defense, intelligence, and commercial customers to gain clarity, act with speed, and operate with confidence in complex environments. For more information, visit worldview.space.

ABOUT SNC

‍SNC is a trusted leader in innovative, advanced technology solutions and open architecture integrations in aerospace and national security. Best known for its unique mission applications, SNC creates customized solutions for the world’s most pressing technology challenges in the fields of aviation, national security space, electronic warfare, command and control, mission systems and inline cybersecurity. For more information, visit sncorp.com.