Description

A scramjet is a variant of an air breathing jet engine that does not include a rotary compressor; rather, it uses the engine's forward motion and shock wave effect to compress the incoming air. The word "scramjet" is derived from the phrase "supersonic combustion ramjet" and it serves to describe the primary difference between a scramjet engine and a ramjet engine. That difference is that scramjets do not slow the intake airflow to subsonic speeds for combustion, instead igniting the fuel air mixture at supersonic speeds. The supersonic combustion design allows the engine to operate at speeds above the mach 6 limiting speed of a ramjet engine.