General Electric‘s [GE] GE Aerospace division said on Dec. 14 that it plans to demonstrate a full-scale dual-mode ramjet (DMRJ) hypersonic engine with rotating detonation combustion (RDC) next year, as GE tries to advance hypersonics at GE Aerospace’s newly revealed comprehensive hypersonics program in Niskayuna, N.Y.
GE said on Dec. 14 that its research center at Niskayuna has demonstrated “what is believed to be a world-first hypersonic” DMRJ rig test with RDC “in a supersonic flow stream.”
“This could help enable high-speed, long-range flight with increased efficiency,” GE Aerospace said. “The milestone and overall portfolio of programs position GE Aerospace to pursue multiple opportunities in the hypersonic sector as it prepares to launch as a standalone company in Q2 of 2024.”
GE Aerospace said that while usual, air-breathing DMRJs “can only begin operating when the vehicle achieves supersonic speeds of greater than Mach 3, GE Aerospace engineers are working on a rotating detonation-enabled dual mode ramjet that is capable of operating at lower Mach numbers, enabling the flight vehicle to operate more efficiently and achieve longer range.
Building hypersonic engines to propel missiles and other future air platforms at Mach 5 and above looks to be a major challenge for industry. Northrop Grumman
[NOC] said in August that it had opened a Hypersonics Capability Center (HCC) in Elkton, Md., to build such engines. The company said that HCC would support DoD hypersonic efforts, including RTX‘s [RTX] Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) for the U.S. Air Force.
GE Aerospace said on Dec. 14 that its DMRJ/RDC test “is part of a comprehensive portfolio of technology programs GE Aerospace is developing and scaling to advance hypersonic capabilities, including high-temperature materials and high-temperature electronics.”
“These technologies are the product of more than a decade’s worth of direct hypersonic-related efforts advanced by GE Aerospace Research and several decades of developments for its GE Aerospace engine business in key areas like high-temperature ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), silicon carbide power electronics, additive technologies, and advanced thermal management,” GE Aerospace said.