GE Aerospace has recently successfully demonstrated two different rotating detonation combustion (RDC) engines—a missile-scale ramjet and a dual-mode ramjet for high-speed aircraft.
The company in a Sept. 22 announcement said the tests at its Aerospace Research Center in Miskayuna, New York, are the latest milestone in its development of hypersonic propulsion programs. They demonstrated a threefold increase in engine airflow compared to previously flight-tested hypersonic technology demonstrators.
“We’ve proven that GE Aerospace’s rotating detonation combustion designs are scalable,” Mark Rettig, vice president and general manager of Edison Works Business & Technology Development at GE Aerospace, said in an announcement.
“In just 10 months, our team advanced from its legacy ramjet to a 3X scale demonstrator with RDC. This rapid progress underscores the maturity of our technology and the strength of our roadmap toward integrated high-speed propulsion solutions.”
The tests began in July. GE said the development was enabled by a collaboration between GE Aerospace engineers, the GE Aerospace Research Center and GE Aerospace Innoveering—a company specializing in hypersonic propulsion it acquired in 2022. The tests follow 2024 trials of a hypersonic dual-mode ramjet, which was developed in the course of about 11 months.
Last month, Craig Young, the executive director for GE Edison Works, identified the dual-mode ramjet as the GE26. This propulsion system is one of two the company will offer to power DARPA’s Next-Generation Responsive Strike demonstrator.