China has completed ground and altitude tests of an adaptive cycle engine prototype with unprecedented thrust, efficiency and speed range, according to presentations at the Chinese Society of Engineering Thermophysics annual conference in Beijing last week.

During the opening day report, Xu Gang, deputy director of the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, presented his team’s research progress in adaptive cycle engine (ACE) technology.

This advanced engine is poised to become the ideal power plant for next-generation fighter aircraft and future supersonic civilian transport, challenging a field long dominated by the United States.

Xu said in his report summary that his institute had pioneered “bypass combustion and inter-stage mixing variable-mode engine” technology. This breakthrough overcomes the severe thrust attenuation of traditional turbine engines at high altitudes and speeds.

The engine can achieve supersonic cruise at high Mach numbers and also serve as the high-speed turbine component for combined-cycle propulsion systems, resolving the “thrust trap” issue in such systems.

Notably, the competing US approach uses a dual-bypass architecture, while the Chinese system features a novel three-stream design.