The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has completed a large-scale propulsion test that could power hypersonic cruise missiles by 2030.
Hypersonic missiles can travel at several thousand miles per hour – more than five times the speed of sound.
High-speed air-breathing engines have been extensively tested as part of the UK’s Hypersonic Weapons Programme, which aims at delivering a hypersonic weapon technology demonstrator by 2030.
Defence secretary John Healey MP said: “We are living in a more dangerous world and it has never been more important for us to innovate and stay ahead of our adversaries, equipping our forces with the technologies of the future.”
The engine tests were carried out by a joint UK-US team led by the MoD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) together with the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and supported by industry partners including UK SME Gas Dynamics.
A total of 233 static tests was carried out over six weeks at Nasa’s Langley Research Centre in...