Mary-Louise Hoffman
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded Orbital ATK a potential $21.4 million contract to study the potential integration of turbine and hypersonic engine technologies into a new aircraft propulsion system.
DARPA obligated $1 million in fiscal 2017 research and development funds for the Advanced Full Range Engine project at the time of contract award, the Defense Department said Tuesday.
The AFRE program aims to build and demonstrate a propulsion system that would operate from a low-speed takeoff through subsonic and hypersonic speeds.
AFRE seeks to explore the concept of a combined cycle engine technology that would comprise a turbine engine intended for low-speed flight operations and a dual-mode ramjet for high-speed flights, DARPA said.
