The State - News from Dec. 3, 1985

An experimental engine that could cut air travel time between the U. S. West Coast and the Far East to two hours is targeted for flight testing by late 1989. The air turbo ramjet engine is expected to be able to power planes at more than five times the speed of sound--about 3,376 m.p.h., Aerojet TechSystems Co. officials said in Sacramento. Aerojet is developing the engine with General Electric Co. in competition with Pratt & Whitney. The engine, first designed by Aerojet in the 1950s, was shelved because no airframe of that time could handle it without being torn apart. Technological advances now make use of the engine feasible, said R. A. Samborsky, project director for advanced propulsion at Aerojet. Once operational, probably in the next century, planes equipped with the engine should reduce their travel time from the West Coast to the Far East from 12 to 14 hours to only about two hours, he said.