Hot-fire tests of air-breathing hypersonic engine completed with Aerojet Rocketdyne
NewsDecember 16, 2020
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. Aerojet Rocketdyne and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) claim to have achieved record levels of thrust by a scramjet engine. The AFRL-Aerojet Rocketdyne team completed a series of hot-fire tests of an advanced air-breathing hypersonic engine under the U.S. Air Force’s Medium Scale Critical Components (MSCC) program.
According to the company, the 18-foot Aerojet Rocketdyne scramjet engine produced record levels of thrust, in excess of 13,000 lbs. The testing occurred over 12 months with more than an hour of sustained combustion at several hypersonic flight conditions.
Tests were conducted across a range of Mach numbers intended to demonstrate performance to accelerate a vehicle approximately 10 times the size of the X-51, at hypersonic speeds.
The company claims that testing was accomplished by the ground test team operating the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) Aerodynamic and Propulsion Test Unit (APTU) at Arnold Air Force Base.
