Rolls-Royce announced yesterday that it has successfully completed the initial test of the YJ102R advanced propulsion system that it is developing under the Air Force-DARPA high speed turbine engine demonstration, or HiSTED, program. The test took place at the company’s LibertyWorks advanced research shop in Indianapolis, Ind. “The unique, power-dense design of this engine has the potential to take high-Mach propulsion to the next level,” said Phil Burkholder, LibertyWorks chief operating officer. He added, “Validating the progress achieved to date is a significant milestone and critical for the HiSTED program.” Under HiSTED, the company is working to design, fabricate, and ground test a high-Mach expendable turbine engine. This engine is expected to power the strike missile concept demonstrator called RATTLRS that Lockheed Martin is pursuing for the Navy. Additional testing of the HiSTED engine is scheduled to demonstrate its ability to achieve transonic acceleration and Mach 3+ cruise speed, Rolls-Royce said.
Lockheed Martin projects more than a billion dollars of losses on a classified program, but company officials said April 23 they are confident it will turn profitable by 2028 and become a "franchise" system in the U.S. military.