DARPA To develop Mach-5 capable advanced full range engine

The US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched its Advanced Full Range Engine (AFRE) program to develop an aircraft propulsion system that could operate over the full range of speeds required from low-speed take-off through hypersonic flight.

The engine could play the basis of a reusable aircraft that can reach hypersonic speeds—Mach 5 (approximately 3,300 miles per hour or5,300 kilometers per hour) and above.

Systems that operate at hypersonic speeds offer the potential for military operations from longer ranges with shorter response times and enhanced effectiveness compared to current military systems. Such systems could provide significant payoff for future U.S. operations, particularly as adversaries’ capabilities advance, a DARPA release said Friday.

The top speed of traditional jet-turbine engines maxes out at roughly Mach 2.5, while hypersonic engines such as scramjets cannot provide effective thrust at speeds much below Mach 3.5. This gap in capability means that any air-breathing hypersonic vehicles developed today would use disposable rockets for one-time boosts up to operating speed, limiting the vehicles’ usefulness.

“Instead of designing an entirely new kind of engine, we’re envisioning an inventive hybrid system that would combine and improve upon the best of off-the-shelf turbine and ramjet/scramjet technologies,” said Christopher Clay, DARPA program manager.

AFRE aims to explore a turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine concept, which would use a turbine engine for low-speed operations and a dual-mode ramjet—which would work efficiently whether the air flowing through it is subsonic (as in a ramjet) or supersonic (as in a scramjet)—for high-speed operations. The two components of the hybrid engine would share a common forward-facing air intake and rear-facing exhaust nozzle to release thrust.

AFRE aims to develop critical technologies and culminate in ground-based testing of a full-scale, integrated technology demonstration system. If that testing is successful, further development of the AFRE technology would require flight testing in a potential follow-on demonstration program.

To familiarize potential participants with the technical objectives of AFRE, DARPA has scheduled a Proposers Day in advance of a planned Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). The Proposers Day will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, July 13 and 14, 2016.