Facility Provided Mach 6 Environment

Aerojet tells ANN it recently completed ground testing of an advanced flight-weight combustor for the Dual Combustion Ramjet engine (DCR) on the DARPA/Navy/Boeing HyFly (Hypersonic Flight) program. Aerojet's DCR engine is fabricated entirely from lightweight, high-temperature composites -- making it less than half the weight of fuel-cooled metal engines.

The company says this hypersonic engine technology will enable the US military to reach long-range threats in a fraction of the time it takes with current missiles.

The full-duration test of the engine was conducted at Aerojet's Orange, VA airbreathing test facility, which provided a Mach 6 flight environment simulation -- equivalent to six times the speed of sound.

"With this test, HyFly took a big step forward with a demonstration of the thermo-structural durability of the engine structure at Mach 6 flight conditions. It proved the viability of an uncooled structure concept to survive extreme engine environments," said Office of Naval Research Program Manager, Gil Graff. Aerojet President Scott Neish added, "This critical test was the last in an extensive ground test series that has validated the performance, structural integrity and durability of this new engine."

Aerojet also is building two flight test DCR engines for the program. Future flight tests will feature a missile configuration compatible with surface ship and submarine launches as well as US Navy and Air Force aircraft.

Aerojet is the principal subcontractor to Boeing Advanced Systems for the HyFly demonstrator. Boeing, in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), is developing and flight testing the HyFly demonstrator. A previous HyFly flight test was successfully launched in January 2005, demonstrating safe separation from an F-15E as well as vehicle guidance and control functions; and in August 2005, demonstrating boost phase performance of a hypersonic strike demonstrator vehicle.

FMI: www.aerojet.com, www.gencorp.com, www.darpa.mil