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Engine technology being developed for a British space plane could also find its way into hypersonic aircraft built by the U.S. military. The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory is studying hypersonic vehicles that would use the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE), which the English company Reaction Engines Ltd. is working on to power the Skylon space plane, AFRL officials said. "AFRL is formulating plans to look at advanced vehicle concepts based on Reaction Engine's heat-exchanger technology and SABRE engine concept," officials with AFRL, which is based in Ohio, told Space.com via email last month. ... SABRE burns hydrogen and oxygen....

'A UK company which hopes to build a re-usable space plane has won an important endorsement from the European Space Agency (ESA) after completing key tests on its novel engine technology. Reaction Engines believes its novel Sabre engine, which would operate like a jet engine in the atmosphere and a rocket in space, could displace rockets for space access and transform air travel by bringing any destination on earth to no more than four hours away. That ambition was given a boost this week by ESA, which has acted as an independent auditor on the Sabre test programme. "ESA are...

A revolutionary UK spaceplane concept has been boosted by the conclusions of an important technical review.The proposed Skylon vehicle would do the job of a big rocket but operate like an airliner, taking off and landing at a conventional runway. The European Space Agency's propulsion experts have assessed the details of the concept and found no showstoppers. They want the next phase of development to include a ground demonstration of its key innovation - its Sabre engine. This power unit is designed to breathe oxygen from the air in the early phases of flight - just like jet engines -...

If there is one British space project that has the capacity to inspire at the moment then surely it is Skylon.

Launching into orbit could become a little easier and cheaper, thanks to a futuristic space plane that looks like it might have flown straight out of a Star Wars film. The European Space Agency and British government have awarded $1 million euros ($1.28 million dollars) to Reaction Engines Limited (REL), a British aerospace company, as part of a multi-million dollar development program for an air-breathing rocket engine that could power the Skylon spaceplane. The unpiloted, reusable vehicle is designed to take off from an airstrip, deliver cargo into orbit and return to the same runway.

A new jet engine design able to fly seven times the speed of sound is scheduled to launch over Australia on Friday. The scramjet engine, known as Hyshot III, has been designed by British defence firm Qinetiq. If successful, it could pave the way for ultrafast, intercontinental air travel, and substantially cut the cost of putting small payloads into space. The engine will launch on a rocket owned by the University of Queensland. It is the first of three test flights planned for this year by the international Hyshot consortium. The first Hyshot engine was launched in 2001 but the...

Two of Russia’s nuclear radiation monitoring stations went silent two days after a mysterious explosion that led to a radiation spike in northern Russia earlier this month. Russian officials say at least five nuclear engineers were killed during a rocket test involving “isotope power sources” on a platform in the White Sea, leading to outside speculation that the accident involved a nuclear-powered cruise missile. Four international stations designed to monitor nuclear activity had detected “an event coinciding with the [Aug. 8] explosion in Nyonoksa, Russia,” the world’s main nuclear test-ban body said on Aug. 10. The Dubna and Kirov stations...

KILLS OF THE FUTURE This 2014 computer-generated image shows a J-31 stealth fighter launching a long-range ramjet BVRAAM (beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile). lt.cdjby.net via errymath China's developing a hypersonic weapon that has triple the range of existing Chinese air-to-air missiles. The premise: a ramjet engine that can turn already deadly missiles into weapons that have greater range, maneuverability, and speed. LONG SHOTS China's PL-12 and PL-21 are long-ranged missiles usually mounted on aircraft. But with ramjet engines to improve maneuverability (not to mention some covert modifications), the PL-12D and PL-21 would make deadly ground- and drone-launched surprises. CASIC In a May...

This scale model of the Indo-Russian Brahmos II hypersonic missile design, could also represent the all-Russian Zircon missile. (Photo: Vladimir Karnozov). Inset: the latest test-firing of a Brahmos from an Indian warship. (Photo: Indian Navy) Amid growing concern in the West about the vulnerability of large warships to very fast sea-skimming missiles, Russian news agencies have reported a successful firing test of the long-range hypersonic Zircon weapon. Coincidentally, India has recently been test-firing new versions of the medium-range supersonic Brahmos missile, which is a joint venture between India and Russia and is based on the P-800 Onix, one of several...

A Swedish Gripen armed with Meteor missiles. Stefan Kalm/Saab photo The technical details of air-to-air missiles are extremely complicated, but the concept is simple — destroy your target before the target destroys you. One way to improve the odds is to add an air-breathing ramjet engine to give the weapon a boost. That’s the design philosophy behind the Meteor, a 419-pound rail-launched MiG killer which entered service for the first time with the Swedish air force on July 11. Stockholm’s agile, delta-wing Gripen fighters carry the missiles. “The Swedish air force is now in its Initial Operational Capability phase with the Meteor,”...

The coal was to take the form of small granules instead of irregular lumps, to produce a controlled and even burn, and the basket was altered to a mesh drum revolving on a vertical axis at 60 rpm. A jet of flame from tanks of bottled gas would fire into the basket once the P.13a had reached operating speed (above 320 km/h), whether by using a rocket to assist take off or by being towed. The air passing through the ramjet would take the fumes from the burning coal towards the rear where they would mix under high pressure with...

The engineer behind the Skreemr jet has unveiled another radical, much faster design for future air travel. Charles Bombadier latest concept jet is capable of reaching Mach 24 - more than twice the speed of the Skreemr and 12 times faster than Concorde. Dubbed the 'Antipode', it can carry 10 people up to 12,430 miles (20,000km) in under an hour, allowing it to travel from London to New York in just 11 minutes.

China has showcased a dummy model of new CX-1 anti-ship missile at Zhuhai Air Show. Missile looks similar to Russian P-800 Oniks , its the same missile upon which Indo-Russian Brahmos cruise missile has been based . Chinese forums puts specification of the missile has Supersonic Cruise missile with range of 50 km to 290 km . Missile will be supersonic speed on all phases of flight, and will be able to use wide range of platforms (ships, submarines and land-based launchers), will have low profile flight (sea-skimming), possible use of the missile in electronic countermeasures environment and under enemy...

The air force of neutral Sweden may not be one of the big-hitters in terms of global power projection. Indeed, it has barely even undertaken combat operations. When Swedish jets went into action over Libya in 2011, during Operation Unified Protector, the government only allowed them to fly reconnaissance missions. The previous time Swedish fighters deployed in combat was almost 50 years earlier, during the Congo crisis. However, Sweden always has taken its air defense very seriously—and has a proven track record of developing innovative, often indigenous solutions to meet its air-power needs. Now, the Swedish air force is about...

Hypersonic missiles Speed is the new stealth Hypersonic weapons: Building vehicles that fly at five times the speed of sound is amazingly hard, but researchers are trying ON AUGUST 20th 1998 Bill Clinton ordered American warships in the Arabian Sea to fire a volley of more than 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles at suspected terrorist training camps near the town of Khost in eastern Afghanistan. The missiles, flying north at about 880kph (550mph), took two hours to reach their target. Several people were killed, but the main target of the attack, Osama bin Laden, left the area shortly before the missiles...

The US Air Force Research Laboratory's X-51A WaveRider scramjet engine demonstrator completed its first captive-carry flight under the wing of its B-52H mothership from Edwards AFB on Dec. 9. The first free flight is planned for mid-February. The B-52 climbed to the planned launch altitude of 50,000ft during a 1.4h flight that checked out systems and telemetry. The next flight, planned for mid-January, will be a full dress-rehearsal for the first of four planned X-51A hypersonic test flights. The Boeing-built X-51A will be released at 50,000ft over the Pacific and accelerated to Mach 4.5 by a solid rocket booster. The...

Dr. Robert W. Bussard died at his home in Santa Fe, NM on October 6th. Inventor, entrepreneur and author, he was the originator of the Interstellar Ramjet as known on Star Trek as the Bussard Collector. A fixture in Science Fiction literature, the Ramjet continues to be the only method known with the possible capability to propel humankind to the stars. Dr. Bussard was also instrumental in developing the nuclear rocket program at Los Alamos National Lab in the 1950s and 60s. At his death, Dr. Bussard was the President and CEO of Energy Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC2), a company...

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Researchers in Australia's Outback launched a test flight Thursday of a supersonic jet designed to fly 10 times faster than conventional airplanes. The test flight was conducted by researchers at the University of Queensland under commission from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, in the remote community of Woomera, about 310 miles north of the South Australian state capital, Adelaide. The so-called Supersonic Combustion Ramjet - or scramjet - engine was designed to travel at speeds of up to 5,000 mph, or 10 times the speed of conventional aircraft, the University of Queensland said in...

At the dawn of the atomic age, scientists began work on what might have been the nastiest weapon ever conceived.Those who came of age during the era of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl are probably too young to remember the happy days when "our friend the atom" promised electricity too cheap to meter and cars that would run forever without a fill-up. With atom-powered subs like the Nautilus cruising under the polar icecap in the mid-1950s, could anyone doubt that atom-powered rocketships, airplanes, and even automobiles would be far behind? A funny thing happened to that dream on its way...

An "air-breathing" test plane will attempt to break a world speed record for the second time in a year by flying at nearly 10 times the speed of sound. Nasa's X-43A will use a revolutionary "scramjet" engine in an attempt to smash its previous mark of Mach 7. While capable of reaching rocket-like speeds, it does not carry an oxidiser on board to ignite its hydrogen fuel; it gets its oxygen from the air. The unmanned flight will take place over the Pacific Ocean on Monday. Scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) technology could one day usher in a new generation of...