A study was conducted for NASA Dryden Flight Research Center to investigate the viability of developing an externally powered zero stage booster fan to boost the altitude performance of a high altitude turbojet from 80 kft. to over 90 kft., in order to realize a very high altitude subsonic remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) capable of atmospheric science missions.
A modified non-airbreathing torpedo engine powers the booster fan. The powered fan is grafted onto an airbreathing turbojet (the General Electric YJ97 jet engine) and is used to supercharge the engine (boost inlet pressure and airflow) at altitudes above its original design limits. The inlet boost keeps the engine operating and delivering thrust, at subsonic speeds, to mission altitudes over 95,000 ft.
If this modified engine were grafted back into the air vehicle it was originally designed for (the Viet Nam era AQM-91A Compass Arrow) the modifications would enable the vehicle to increase its maximum altitude from 80,000 ft to over 88,000 ft for periods up to 45 min. With some additional wing area, the aircraft, which is in the 5000 lbm TOGW class, could carry a 500 lbm payload to altitudes over 92,000 kft with an operational radius over 1500 NMi.
This study examined a number of candidate component arrangements to realize this fan-boosted propulsion system. Performance was estimated for the subsystem components, the resulting propulsion systems, and the associated RPA. In addition, the study estimated the time and cost to demonstrate/validate this concept in a full-scale propulsion system wind tunnel test program.
This paper describes the concept, summarizes the concept selection efforts and performance analysis conducted during the study, and explains the rationale behind this unusual approach. A description of the proposed development and test program, and the cost estimate, lies beyond the scope of this paper.