Wave Engine Corp has aced a demonstration flight of a simple jet engine with no moving parts. A modern version of a pulsejet, the J-1 engine powered a UAV through take-off and several mid-air stop/starts before the aircraft nailed the landing.
The Wave Engine is an evolution of the pulsejet engine, a simple jet propulsion device where air is fed into a chamber and fuel introduced. This is ignited to produce a fireball that forces high-pressure heated gasses down a tube and out of the tailpipe, creating thrust. As this happens, the pressure inside the engine drops and creates a partial vacuum which draws fresh air in, and another burst of fuel is ignited to repeat the process.
A supersonic drone that will be propelled by a revolutionary new engine has taken to the skies for the first time. When Venus Aerospace's aircraft does go supersonic on a later date, it will be powered by a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE).
Supersonic drones may sound like something bleeding edge, but they're surprisingly old hat as a basic concept. As far back as the early 1950s, the US Air Force was fielding remote-controlled supersonic jets for targets to test air defenses, as platforms for reconnaissance in dangerous areas, or as weapons armed with conventional or nuclear warheads.
However, the one thing they've all had in common over the past 75 years was a jet engine for propulsion to boost them past Mach 1. In recent years, advances in avionics, aerodynamics, and autonomous systems have allowed uncrewed aircraft to expand their roles, but at their heart, they were still jet propelled.
The Case For Arming U.S. Navy Warships With Drone Swarms by Tyler Rogoway
April 4, 2024
Introduction:
(The Drive) Drone attacks on warships have been in the news a lot lately, ushering in what is arguably a new era of naval combat, one that even the most powerful navies in the world don't appear ready to fully confront on a grand scale.
In and around the Red Sea, the constant Houthi aerial drone attacks on ships, including U.S. and allied surface combatants, have made major headlines. Near Ukraine, we have seen repeated successful attacks on Russian warships via unmanned surface vessels. The use of relatively inexpensive unmanned systems in a maritime context is typically viewed through the lens of them being threats to warships. However, the potential for lower-end drones to be used to those same warships' advantages, both defensively and offensively, is arguably just as big of a deal.
Northrop Grumman introduces its first completed prototype Manta Ray Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle (UUV) that it is developing for DARPA. The extra-large submarine glider is designed to carry out long-range undersea missions without human assistance.
When you've been dealing with engineering problems as long as nature has, you're bound to come up with an impressive list of good ideas and human engineers have recognised this going back to Leonardo da Vinci and bird-based flying machines. Taking a cue from this, Northrop Grumman has come up with the Manta Ray, which combines the hydrodynamics of its namesake fish with some high-tech autonomous systems and energy-saving propulsion.
Not a lot has been released about Manta Ray. Even though its dimensions are hush hush, the vehicle is supposed to be long-range and large-scale. It's designed to carry a variety of payloads for different missions with an emphasis on endurance rather than speed.
