Ramjet Propulsion
The Crossbow is FAST Aerospace's proprietary ramjet architecture, engineered to reduce system complexity, improve testability and enable scalable production. Unlike conventional designs, it is built to be characterised incrementally, from early combustion tests through to full flight-envelope validation.
The engine completed its first test campaign at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) within twelve months of FAST's founding, and is currently being advanced through the REC ground-test programme covering combustion diagnostics, thermal characterisation and performance mapping across operating conditions.
Crossbow's prioritises reconfigurability. The system is designed to be interchangable between test campaigns, enabling systematic sweeps across geometric and operating parameters without major hardware rebuilds.
The Crossbow test infrastructure is available to third-party organisations for the validation of alternative injector configurations, solid-fuel ramjet components and other air-breathing propulsion architectures. FAST offers a structured campaign service through the REC programme, giving partners access to a dedicated European propulsion test facility with full diagnostic instrumentation.
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