Pioneering new engine design could change air and space travel

British Reaction Engines company claims its newest invention will enable five times the speed of sound airline flights

The small technology company's based in Oxfordshire revolutionary Sabre engines are built to allow commercial air travel up to five times the speed of sound and space travel up to 25 times the speed of sound. The innovative technology can become reality in the next decade.

Hypersonic air travel could allow passengers to travel anywhere on the globe in maximum 4 hours.

Reaction Engines company, founded in 1989, recently sold a minority stake to its strategic partner, the aerospace giant BAE Systems, to expand its area of expertise. An additional government funding of £60m will also boost next engineering development stage of the Sabre engine project.

Mark Thomas, director of Reaction Engines, declares about the partnership:

“BAE Systems have put in £21m, which implies the company is valued at £100m.

“I spent much of the five months I’ve been here working on that process. It was very clear to me that we needed a big industrial aerospace company and one of the key capabilities we were looking for was systems integration.

“It’s a combination of jet engine technologies and rocket technologies, so actually it’s a complex system (requiring everything to function as one unit). When we looked at organizations with that ability, BAE Systems were top of the list.”

The Sabre engine concept – or Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine – can become a reality in the next 10 to 15 years, as Elon Musk could be a potential client of Reaction's product for the business magnate's SpaceX space hypersonic travel project.