Student's dorm-built Reaper jet drone hits 491 mph

Georgia Tech aerospace engineering student Tomas Salvo says his dorm-built jet drone, called Reaper, hit 790 km/h (491 mph) while carrying a 1.2 kg payload, which he says makes it the fastest small jet-powered drone in the world. He posted the claim, along with video, on X on October 30, 2026.

According to Salvo, the Reaper can hold that top speed for four minutes on a full tank, can be rail- or truck-launched, climbs to 2,000 meters in under 20 seconds, and can fly 50 km at full speed. He says the system is now reliable and repeatable, and he expects future tweaks to push it past 800 km/h.

Tom's Hardware reports that the drone was built from custom-molded carbon fiber with a laser-cut internal structure, used a 250N JetCat jet engine with a titanium 3D-printed nozzle, and cost about $13,000 to build. Salvo is aiming for Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl's $800,000 Boom Prize, which requires breaking the sound barrier for five seconds on an air-breathing, rocket-free aircraft that lands intact and flies twice in one day. The record is unofficial and was not recorded by Guinness.

Why it matters

It's a striking example of how far a hobbyist with a few thousand dollars can push jet drone speeds outside any corporate or government program.

Source: Tomas Salvo on X