The emergence of attritable uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) is transforming modern defence concepts by enabling large-scale autonomous swarms. Realizing this vision requires propulsion systems that are substantially less expensive than conventional piston or gas-turbine engines. Detonation engines offer a promising alternative. Consisting essentially of simple-geometry tubes. This project proposes the development and evaluation of a novel inlet architecture for detonation engines. The proposed research will combine computational fluid dynamics and experimental validation to establish the feasibility of the proposed detonation engine inlets. Successful demonstration could enable a new generation of low-cost, high-efficiency propulsion systems for attritable UAS.
