Importance

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Abstract

The present invention is directed toward a two-stage hypersonic vehicle, comprising a first-stage vehicle and a second stage vehicle. The first-stage vehicle includes a combined-cycle engine and a swirl generator for propelling the first-stage vehicle and the second-stage vehicle to a threshold velocity, which in one embodiment is about Mach 6. In one embodiment, the first-stage combined-cycle engine integrates a swirl generator into a gas turbine engine, providing a highly compact afterburner and a ramjet engine within the gas turbine engine. One benefit of the integrated swirl generator is the ability to significantly reduce overall first-stage gas turbine and afterburner-ramjet size and weight, while retaining high performance. The second-stage vehicle is detachably secured to the first-stage vehicle and includes a hypersonic engine. In various embodiments, the hypersonic engine may comprise one of the following engine configurations: scramjet, rocket, or scramjet/rocket depending on the mission profile and requirements.

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First Claim