Scramjet

A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variant of a <a href="/facts/Ramjet/wFschau9">ramjet</a> <a href="/facts/Airbreathing_jet_engine/LmtmX4RW">airbreathing jet engine</a> in which <a href="/facts/Combustion/ohQoWj8z">combustion</a> takes place in <a href="/facts/Supersonic/D3VpzmlC">supersonic</a> <a href="/facts/Airflow/aQY3C0Mw">airflow</a>. As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to compress the incoming air forcefully before combustion (hence ramjet), but whereas a ramjet decelerates the air to <a href="/facts/Speed_of_sound/dYtbt1nf">subsonic</a> velocities before combustion using <a href="/facts/Shock_cone/4sEVTE72">shock cones</a>, a scramjet has no shock cone and slows the airflow using shockwaves produced by its ignition source in place of a shock cone. This allows the scramjet to operate efficiently at extremely high speeds.
Although scramjet engines have been used in a handful of operational military vehicles, scramjets have so far mostly been demonstrated in research test articles and experimental vehicles.

Scramjet open-in-new

Scramjet