On September 21, the official WeChat account of Xi’an Aerospace Propulsion Research Institute of China released an article titled “Ten Years of Difficult Searching for the Road and Flying Soaring to the Sky-A Combined Power Engine Developed by Our Institute Successfully Flew”, revealing that China’s domestically produced new combined power engine made its maiden flight.
According to the article, the product was intact after the test. And the remote measurement data indicated that all the assessment items were completed in this flight test. The performance of the engine exceeded the ground test results and the expected level. The test was super successful, which further verified the real flight status. The key technologies of the engine under incoming flow conditions lay the foundation for subsequent development.
It is understood that the biggest feature of the aerospace aircraft’s power compared with conventional aircraft is that it has to work across media and can work normally under different environmental conditions in the atmosphere and adjacent space, while the engines of conventional aircraft are aimed only at operating within the atmosphere, mainly up to 25 km.
According to the analysis of “Ordnance Science and Technology” Magazine, the new type of engine that Xi’an Aerospace Propulsion Research Institute successfully flew for this time should be one of the rocket-based combined cycle engines. The engine is likely to be a scramjet or a sub-combustion/super-combustion combined engine. The feature of this engine is that the supersonic airflow directly enters the flow channel and is mixed with the combustion agent in the combustion chamber. It is directly burned under high temperature, high pressure, and high-speed conditions, and produces huge energy.
The aerospace engine is the core of aerospace aircraft and one of the most technically difficult key technologies. A major breakthrough in the aerospace combined power engine means that China’s aerospace aircraft development is at the world’s first echelon level.