GE Aerospace announced that it has successfully conducted trial tests of a hypersonic engine prototype combining direct-flow jet engine and rotary-detonator engine principles at its base in Niskayuna, New York. In the future, such a power plant can be used not only in rockets but also in drones and airplanes. The company reported that the full-scale version of this engine should appear in 2024.

GE Aerospace thinks the new power plant is practical because it can operate at both supersonic speeds (below Mach 3) and hypersonic speeds (above Mach 5). While the serial version should be smaller and lighter than its counterparts, the absence of moving parts makes the engine simple and reliable in terms of both operation and maintenance.

Hypersonic technology could revolutionize the aviation industry, but flying at more than five times the speed of sound requires not only new heat-resistant materials and electronics, but also the ability to enable hypersonic vehicles to provide stable and, most importantly, maneuverable flight.

Currently, many prototypes of hypersonic rockets are gliders: they climb to a high altitude, reach hypersonic speeds and go into a dive. From this point on, only gravity and inertia are their driving forces. This severely limits the range, maneuverability and overall efficiency of an aircraft or missile.

Ideally, you need an engine that can move the aircraft for most of the flight. This will allow stable flight at lower altitudes, increasing flight range and providing greater maneuverability.

For hypersonic speeds a direct jet engine is fine, but such setups don’t do their job very well at low supersonic speeds, so the vehicle still needs to be accelerated by a launch vehicle until it’s fast enough to turn on the direct jet. jet thruster.

To overcome this problem, GE Aerospace created a hybrid engine that combines the principles of a direct-flow jet engine and a rotary detonator engine. Every part of this engine works well at certain speeds.