DARPA Selects Orbital ATK for Hypersonic Engine Research

Orbital ATK has entered a new DARPA contract to study the integration of turbine and hypersonic engine technologies into a new aircraft propulsion system under DARPA’s Advanced Full Range Engine (AFRE) program. The AFRE program seeks to develop a new aircraft propulsion system that could operate over the full range of speeds from conventional runway …

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Variable compression engine will increase fuel efficiency by 27%

The 2019 Infiniti QX50 crossover arrives in 2018 and it will be powered by a 2.0-liter variable compression turbocharged four-cylinder engine. It will change the distance the pistons travel in their cylinders by as much as 6 mm, or about a quarter of an inch. Nissan’s chief powertrain engineer, says Infiniti’s VC-T engine is expected …

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DARPA funds Reaction Engines hypersonic precooler tests

Reaction Engines Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Reaction Engines, today announced that it has received a contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to conduct high-temperature airflow testing in the United States of a Reaction Engines precooler test article called HTX. The precooler heat exchanger is a key component of the company’s …

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China catching up on fighter and commercial jet engines

There is a new online picture which shows that China has made progress on its domestically built engine for its J-20 stealth fighter. The engines are distinguished by their serrated afterburner nozzles and interior flaps for manipulating the exhaust flow. Once these new J-20s enter service, China will have comprehensively mastered the major parts of …

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Improved jet engines are key to longer range sixth gen fighter and improved F35

The US Air Force is finalizing technology requirements for a new fighter jet to enter service sometime in the 2030s. Known as “Penetrating Counter Air,” the new fighter will replace the F-22 Raptor and maintain American air superiority in future conflicts. * US Air force developing concepts for replacing the Lockheed F-22 after 2030, which …

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Mazda makes gasoline engines as efficient as diesel

Mazda Motor Corp said it would become the world’s first automaker to commercialize a much more efficient petrol engine using technology that deep-pocketed rivals have been trying to engineer for decades, a twist in an industry increasingly going electric. The new compression ignition engine is 20 percent to 30 percent more fuel efficient than the …

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Lockheed confident of being able to build a 4600 mph spyplane drone in 2018

Lockheed Martin says hypersonic technologies are now sufficiently mature to enable progress towards a flight demonstrator. In March 2016, Lockheed CEO Hewson stated that the company was on the verge of a technological breakthrough that would allow its conceptual SR-72 hypersonic plane to reach Mach 6. A hypersonic demonstrator aircraft the size of an F-22 …

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Survivalism for the rich and famous

Survivalism, the practice of preparing for the collapse of civilization, tends to evoke a certain picture: the woodsman in the tinfoil hat, the hysteric with the hoard of beans, the religious doomsayer. But in recent years survivalism has expanded to more affluent quarters, taking root in Silicon Valley and New York City, among technology executives, …

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Vader father and son developing liquid metal 3d printing machine

A father and son team in the START-UP NY program have invented a liquid metal printing machine that could represent a significant transformation in manufacturing. A breakthrough idea five years ago by former University at Buffalo student Zack Vader, then 19, has created a machine that prints three-dimensional objects using liquid metal. Vader Systems is …

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103 Perdix Microdrone swarms by FA18 Super Hornets

In one of the most significant tests of autonomous systems under development by the Department of Defense, the Strategic Capabilities Office, partnering with Naval Air Systems Command, successfully demonstrated one of the world’s largest micro-drone swarms at China Lake, California. The test, conducted in October 2016 and documented on Sunday’s CBS News program “60 Minutes”, …

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China making steady progress towards longer range power projection

China is expected to “own” a third aircraft carrier in the near future, the People’s Daily online, the flagship of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is reporting, quoting a leading naval expert. The website quoted Liang Fang: At present, China’s second aircraft carrier is under construction. In the near future, the Chinese navy is …

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