The Reaction Engines team exhibited at the AIAA organization’s annual Aviation Forum in Las Vegas this week. This was a fantastic opportunity to engage with industry leaders on crucial technology development for the future of aviation, next-generation propulsion, and emerging high-speed concepts contributing to a faster, more efficient, and sustainable future in both the commercial and defense sectors.
From left to right: Joaquin Castro – Aerojet Rocketdyne/L3 Harris, Guy Norris – Aviation Week Network, Tom Smith – Boeing, Dr. Adam Dissel – Reaction Engines, Inc., Dr. Mark Lewis – Purdue Applied Research Institute, and Dr. Kevin Bowcutt- Boeing
Dr. Adam Dissel and Jimmy Kenyon – NASA Glenn
The conference brought together key individuals who have spent their careers dedicated to the discovery of new technologies, concepts, and systems to enable the U.S. government and close allied countries to maintain their strategic edge in defense platforms for national security, including future high-speed capabilities. Reaction Engines’ success is connected to the success of the wider supply chain, from propulsion partners and airframers to government customers, so the team was thrilled to host on our stand a few leading contributors to the advancement of hypersonics.
In addition to Dr. Mark Lewis who chairs our U.S. Advisory Board, we enjoyed catching up with Dr. Kevin Bowcutt and Tom Smith of Boeing, Joaquin Castro of Aerojet/L3, Jimmy Kenyon from NASA Glenn, Guy Norris from Aviation Week, and many others. We are grateful for the achievements and contributions of these and other attendees – this is precisely the ecosystem that must come together to achieve the U.S. and UK’s shared commercial and defense objectives.
Reaction’s technologies provide transformative thermal solutions to defense needs as well as the ambitious pursuits of the commercial aviation sector to achieve safe, economical, and revolutionized commercial transport. Dr. Adam Dissel, President of Reaction Engines, Inc., contributed to a panel hosted by AIAA’s High Speed Task Force to discuss forward recommendations for achieving success in high-speed flight.Â
Dr. Dissel highlighted the importance of reducing export control barriers and stigma to enable collaborations with U.S. allies for an accelerated approach to ensure allied competitiveness while also opening the path to faster commercial travel. By reducing these export barriers through programs like AUKUS Pillar 2, Reaction Engines can collaborate more freely across its UK and U.S. business units to more rapidly develop our technical contributions. Dr. Dissel also highlighted the importance of maintaining high credibility in cost and timeline estimates for delivering these capabilities in order to increase government and investor confidence.
Beyond high-speed flight, Reaction Engines has been dedicated to the advancement of commercialization and product standardization for sustainable aviation and vertical lift platforms. Sustainability has been at the forefront of the conversation at the AIAA Aviation conference, and we were proud to showcase our lightweight microtube heat exchangers for use in hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles and vertical lift rotorcraft. Reaction’s microtube heat exchangers deliver efficient cooling across a range of temperatures and pressures, which make them a sensible fit for conventional aircraft and rotorcraft.
What rang true as a common theme throughout the conference was a passion and dedication among industry and government officials to work together to achieve our countries’ national security imperatives and using novel technologies from our diverse ecosystem to realize a step change in commercial aviation. As an industry we must rely on our strong supply chain relationships, credibility in engineering, resourcing, and planning, as well as maintaining the enthusiasm required to realize these ambition goals in sustainable aviation and high-speed platforms. Reaction Engines is proud to be leading the efforts on thermal management to achieve these objectives and is grateful to gather with industry and friends at AIAA’s Aviation Forum.Â
We develop pioneering technology to elevate life on Earth. Innovating in pursuit of the world's net zero goals. We deliver thermal management solutions to create a better, more sustainable future.
