GE Aerospace has completed a set of preliminary design studies for a hypersonic dual-mode ramjet using a custom generative AI application, the company announced on May 19, 2026, describing it as a proof of concept for compressing engine design cycles from months to seconds.
Researchers at the GE Aerospace Research Center in Niskayuna, New York, ran the tool against the multiple flight conditions and customer requirements that typically frame an early ramjet study. The application returned hundreds of candidate design layouts in a single session, each satisfying the imposed constraints, according to the company.
GE Aerospace did not release technical details of the candidate layouts and did not commit to a hardware path for any of them, framing the exercise as a methodology demonstration rather than the start of a new program.
Compressing the early design loop
The work was led by Joe Vinciquerra, General Manager and Senior Executive Director at GE Aerospace Research. He said the tool was intended to shrink the slowest part of any new engine program, the iterative loop between requirements definition and a workable preliminary layout.
“By using generative AI tools we can significantly reduce design cycle times,” Vinciquerra said in a statement, adding that the approach would allow the company to move faster to testing and commercialization.
The Niskayuna site is the center of GE Aerospace’s hypersonic propulsion work. In late 2023, the same research team demonstrated a dual-mode ramjet rig test using rotating detonation combustion in a supersonic flow.
In September 2025, GE Aerospace flew a solid-fuel ramjet on a Starfighters Aerospace F-104 over Florida as part of the ATLAS program, funded under Title III of the Defense Production Act. In January 2026, GE Aerospace and Lockheed Martin completed ground tests of a liquid-fueled rotating detonation ramjet intended for missile applications.
The US Department of Defense has placed a growing premium on the speed at which new air-breathing propulsion concepts can be matured. China and Russia have already fielded operational hypersonic systems, while several US efforts have struggled to move from research to deployment.
Civil spillover into RISE
Vinciquerra said the same generative AI tooling is being applied to the CFM International RISE program, the open fan technology demonstration backed by GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines. RISE is targeting a fuel-burn reduction of more than 20% over current narrowbody engines and is widely seen as the propulsion baseline for the next generation of single-aisle aircraft. CFM and Airbus are preparing to use an A380 as an open fan flight demonstrator later this decade.