BAE Boost For 3,800mph Space Engine Firm

What are Sabre and Skylon?

BAE's £20m Boost For 3,800mph Space Engine Firm

A radical British bid to slash international flight times with brand new engine technology gets backing from BAE Systems.

AE Systems has bought a 20% stake in a British firm aiming to revolutionise space and air travel with an engine that would cut flights between the UK and Australia to just four hours.

Reaction Engines says its rocket/jet hybrid technology "will enable aircraft to operate easily at speeds of up to five times the speed of sound" - or more than 3,800 mph at some altitudes.

That is two-and-a half times faster than Concorde could achieve.

It would also allow for flight directly into Earth's orbit.

The firm, which has been working to test its technology with the European Space Agency, is also to receive a £60m Government grant to help cover the cost of its research, with unmanned testing due to begin in a decade's time.

The SABRE (Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine) creates its own liquid oxygen by freezing air as it moves into it - saving significantly on weight and fuel.

This is done through a heat exchanger that takes airstreams from over 1,000C to -150C in less than one hundredth of a second.

It is designed "to provide efficient air-breathing thrust from standstill on the runway" before its transition to a rocket mode of operation.

On Twitter, Reaction Engines said BAE's investment would be worth £20m.

Nigel Whitehead, managing director of programmes and support at BAE Systems, said: "Reaction Engines is a highly innovative UK company and our collaboration gives BAE Systems a strategic interest in a breakthrough air and space technology with significant future potential.

"Our partnership with Reaction Engines is part of our sustained commitment to investing in and developing prospective emerging technologies.

"BAE Systems' considerable engineering and development expertise will help support the delivery of the first demonstrator for the SABRE engine."

BAE's work on the project will include the development of the aircraft that could use the SABRE engines.

The managing director of Reaction Engines, Mark Thomas, added: "Today's announcement represents an important landmark in the transition of Reaction Engines from a company that has been focused on the research and testing of enabling technologies for the SABRE engine to one that is now focused on the development and testing of the world's first SABRE engine."

Reaction has an unmanned, reusable spaceplane in early development, known as the Skylon.