American defense giants Lockheed Martin and GE Aerospace officially announced completion of a test series for dual-mode ramjet with rotating detonation combustion (DMRJ with RDC) designed for hypersonic missiles conducted testing confirmed this development's viability, as stated in companies' press releases.
This is the companies' first joint initiative within a broader agreement on joint technology development, Lockheed Martin's statement says. Meanwhile, as emphasized by GE Aerospace's Edison Works advanced programs unit CEO Mark Rettig, testing exceeded expectations, and collaboration with Lockheed Martin will allow us to continue refining our advanced air-breathing hypersonic engine technologies.
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While Lockheed Martin's missile programs division CEO Randy Crites emphasized such an engine will be more affordable and that Lockheed Martin brought its air intake development experience for ramjet engines to this development.
Actually, Lockheed Martin's press release separately emphasizes such an engine will have several key advantages compared to others. First, more compact design so users will have the option to add more fuel to increase flight range or an increased warhead.
Second, this engine's ability to operate at speeds less than Mach 3. This means possibility of using smaller boosters or completely doing without them.
As a reminder, this engine is originally GE Aerospace's development, and back in 2023 when first successful bench tests were announced, we reported that such a hypersonic engine of course, in case of successful project implementation will become a true revolution happening once per half-century.
Meanwhile, for Lockheed Martin, collaboration with GE Aerospace on this hypersonic engine is invaluably important in context of developing their hypersonic missile projects specifically ARRW. Despite being buried several years ago, with GE' hypersonic engine may get new breath, especially since last year U.S. Air Force expressed desire to return to this project.
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