Boeing joins multi-million-dollar investment in hypersonic flight technology

SAN FRANCISCO: US aerospace giant Boeing said Wednesday that it has joined a 37.3-million-US-dollar fundraising for a British aerospace startup focusing on hypersonic flight technology.



Boeing said in a statement that its venture capital arm HorizonX is going in with British propulsion system manufacturer Rolls-Royce and defense company BAE Systems on an investment round for Reaction Engines, a leader in hybrid rocket-jet propulsion technology that could send aircraft zipping into space and back at multiple times the speed of sound.

"As Reaction Engines unlocks advanced propulsion that could change the future of air and space travel, we expect to leverage their revolutionary technology to support Boeing's pursuit of hypersonic flight," said Steve Nordlund, vice president of Boeing HorizonX.

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Boeing has long been working on hypersonic technology. Just a couple of month ago, Boeing unveiled its latest concept for a hypersonic demonstrator airplane.

Founded in 1989, Reaction Engines produces robust technical designs for advanced heat exchangers and pursues new capabilities of delivering high-speed point-to-point transport that is cost-effective and sustainable.