Watkins, CO– Reaction Engines, Inc. (REI), the U.S. subsidiary of Reaction Engines Ltd. (REL), Culham UK, a leader in the design, manufacture, and application of thermal management solutions for the aviation, space, energy, and transportation sectors, today announced the successful completion of the Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) campaign of Reaction’s revolutionary engine precooler heat exchanger at its Colorado high-temperature test facility. First announced in July 2022, the FCT test program was conducted in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and was aligned with the Air Force FCT goal to assess maturing technologies that could meet defense needs.
“The FCT test program greatly expanded the demonstrated capabilities of our engine precooler technology”, said REI Director of Engineering, Andrew Piotti. “During these recent tests, the precooler successfully achieved our objective of over 10 megawatts of transferred thermal energy from the high-temperature airflow, which is three times higher than our previous test program.”
The delivery of the required airflow conditions, which mimic those expected during eventual high-Mach flight, necessitated the expansion of REI’s TF2 test facility, and also included the addition of a new water coolant system to reject the huge thermal load. “I’m so proud of our team and the commitment they showed in rapidly meeting these challenges and achieving these important test outcomes,” said Piotti.
Ernest Thompson of AFRL stated, “the FCT was an essential step for Reaction Engines and the U.S. government to further demonstrate and characterize the technical capability of Reaction Engines’ heat exchanger technology under flight-like airflow conditions.”
“Reaction Engines is at the forefront of developing the breakthrough technical capability to accelerate turbine engine propulsion systems into high-Mach and hypersonic flight regimes”, said REI President, Dr. Adam Dissel. “Working closely with our government and strategic industry partners on these important test campaigns is essential to unlock credible and rapid solutions for achieving new high-speed flight systems.”
Distribution Statement A: Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited. PA# AFRL-2022-5892
