GE and Lockheed Martin Showcase Rotating Detonation Hypersonic Missile Design

GE and Lockheed Martin have demonstrated a new rotating detonation engine ramjet design in a series of tests that show significant potential for efficiency gains. If developed into a full missile design, the new design would enable lower cost, smaller size, and increased range and/or payload capacity, NewAtlas reports.

Hypersonic missiles that use ramjets for propulsion can be highly effective at bypassing air-defense networks and delivering large payloads to precise targets. But they are inherently inefficient. Although ramjets allow for hypersonic speeds, they are only effective once the missile is travelling at around Mach 3, or just over 2,300 miles per hour. That demands a sizeable rocket booster before the ramjet can begin to take effect, increasing size, weight, and cost while decreasing range and payload size.

But now that GE and Lockheed Martin have demonstrated that the rotating detonation engine functions effectively, they could begin designing hypersonic ...