GE & Lockheed Demonstrate Rotating Detonation Ramjet for Hypersonic Missiles

Good news!

"Two revolutionary aerospace technologies collide as GE Aerospace and Lockheed Martin team up to demonstrate a new liquid-fueled rotating-detonation ramjet (RDRJ) designed to close the "efficiency gap" in hypersonic flight with new tactical inlets. ...

GE and Lockheed Martin plan to get around this by accelerating the missile using a rotating detonation engine, which uses a supersonic wave of detonating fuel that runs about inside an open-ended cylinder as fuel and water is fed in. This produces a self-sustaining cycle that maintains pressure during combustion. ...

Such an engine is 25% more efficient than a conventional engine, allowing it to be much more compact and lighter. It can also operate at subsonic speeds and the design allows it to modify itself so it can act as a ramjet at supersonic speeds and a scramjet at hypersonic speeds, so smaller rocket boosters are needed. ..."

"GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) completed a series of engine tests demonstrating the viability of a liquid-fueled rotating detonation ramjet for use in hypersonic missiles, the first initiative between the companies under a broader joint technology development arrangement. ..."

GE & Lockheed Martin Close Hypersonic Efficiency Gap "New rotating-detonation engine boosts hypersonic missile efficiency"

GE Aerospace and Lockheed Martin Demonstrate Rotating Detonation Ramjet for Hypersonic Missiles

CA-based Castelion hypersonic missile manufacturer considers Southern Arizona for expansion

Wow, hypersonic missiles are coming to my neighborhood!

New hypersonic missile manufacturer considers Southern Arizona for expansion - AZ Luminaria "Sen. Mark Kelly and Pima County are working to convince Castelion, a startup missile manufacturer founded by former Space-X employees, to come to the Tucson area"

A new rocket for July 4th! 😊

Beijing to New York in just 2 hours? Maybe as early as 2027?

Just hype? "... on October 27, 2024, that its Yunxing prototype plane completed the test flight the previous day ..."

Rotating detonation ramjet engine for hypersonic speeds to fly in 2025

Amazing stuff! Will civil aviation be taken to the next level? What is the boom, if any?

"... A case in point is Venus Aerospace's new Venus Detonation Ramjet 2000 lb Thrust Engine (VDR2). ...

Unveiled at the recent Up.Summit in Bentonville, Arkansas the VDR2 looks ridiculously simple in a cutaway view because it's essentially an empty tube without moving parts. This is because it's mainly a ramjet, where the incoming air is compressed by the speed of the engine moving forward instead of by spinning turbine blades as in a conventional jet engine. ...

The VDR2 takes things a step further by incorporating a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE), which overcomes the limitations of a rocket or jet engine by using another novel principle – again, with no moving parts. The RDRE part of the VDR2 consists of two coaxial cylinders with a gap between them. A fuel/oxidizer mixture is squirted into the gap and ignited. The next step is a bit tricky, but if the detonation is configured properly, this generates a closely coupled reaction and shock wave that speeds around inside the gap at supersonic velocity that generates more heat and pressure. ...

It has the high thrust and efficiency needed to power an aircraft to speeds of up to Mach 6 and an altitude of 170,000 ft (52,000 m) [conventional civil aviation planes fly at about 9,000-12,000 meter altitude] and is 15% more efficient than conventional engines, if Venus Aerospace meets its current design goals. ...

The VDR2 is expected to make its first test flight in a test drone next year."

Rotating detonation ramjet engine for hypersonic speeds to fly in 2025

In drei Stunden mit dem Wasserstoff-Hyperschalljet nach Tokio

All aboard! Ticket price? How many passengers?

In drei Stunden mit dem Wasserstoff-Hyperschalljet nach Tokio - ingenieur.de Das Startup Destinus will mit seinen Flugzeugen die Luftfahrt revolutionieren: Sie fliegen mit flüssigem Wasserstoff und seien damit klimaneutral, und dank der fünffachen Schallgeschwindigkeit sollen große Entfernungen künftig in wenigen Stunden erreichbar sein.

The Next Global Arms Race Is On And It Is Fast

Posted: 1/20/2014  Updated: 2/8/2019, 1/27/2014

Update Of 2/8/2019

The Center for a New American Security just published Understanding China's AI Strategy Clues to Chinese Strategic Thinking on Artificial Intelligence and National Security (2/6/2019)

We learn among other things (emphasis added):

1. “China’s leadership – including President Xi Jinping – believes that being at the forefront in AI technology is critical to the future of global military and economic power competition”
2. “Despite expressing concern on AI arms races, most of China’s leadership sees increased military usage of AI as inevitable and is aggressively pursuing it. China already exports armed autonomous platforms and surveillance AI.”
3. “... “Intelligence supremacy will be the core of future warfare” and that “AI may completely change the current command structure, which is dominated by humans” to one that is dominated by an “AI cluster.””
4. “China’s behavior of aggressively developing, utilizing, and exporting increasingly autonomous robotic weapons and surveillance AI technology runs counter to China’s stated goals of avoiding an AI arms race”
5. “China’s Ministry of National Defense has established two major new research organizations focused on AI and unmanned systems under the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT)”
6. “China’s government sees AI as a promising military “leapfrog development” opportunity, meaning that it offers military advantages over the US and will be easier to implement in China than the United States.”

However, there are areas where China has some catch up to do like specialized hardware and nanoscale chip production.

Update As Of 1/27/2014

The Australian think tank The Strategist just two papers here and here.

Trigger

The past week (1/17/2014) we learnt that China tested some kind of hypersonic aircraft or drone (see e.g. here, here).

Every Several Months

So it seems we learn in the news media of another advance of China in its military weaponry. Not to mention that China is heading for the moon.

Certainly, these developments are of serious concern and an enormous challenge for the West.

Fast Shifting Global Power

The speed of China’s catch up with latest military technology is breathtaking.

What will e.g. India, Japan, Australia, or South Korea do?

Western Europe looks more and more like a former giant tied down like Gulliver of Gulliver’s Travel fame (but not by Lilliputians), falling further behind in the defense arena.

This Arms Race Is Different

The bureaucratic and highly paranoid former Soviet Union was its worst enemy bogged down by and seriously crippled by central planning.

The Chinese people are vastly different from the Russians. The Chinese were an very advanced culture 1,000s of years ago for many hundred years. The Chinese were once leading in science and technology. Chinese are very capable of complex and abstract thinking.

Will the Chinese people be peaceful? The chances are good based on history, but trust but verify (a Russian proverb quickly picked up and frequently employed by President Reagan)!

Previous, Related Blog Posts

Here, here, and here.

Successor To SR-71 At Mach 6

Trigger

Just perused a lengthy article in Aviation Week that claims that Lockheed is working on a successor to the SR-71 Blackbird with a top speed of Mach 6, two times as fast as SR-71. That is awesome! There has been such a long pause on supersonic flight.

I have seen the SR-71 at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. As a teenager, I was in awe by the story of this incredible plane. Just an amazing bird!

Co-Pilot Wanted

I wish Lockheed best of luck and success! Sign me up! Need for speed is addictive!