An afterburner is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and combat. The afterburning process injects additional fuel into a combustor in the jet pipe behind the turbine, "reheating" the exhaust gas. Afterburning significantly increases thrust as an alternative to using a bigger engine with its attendant weight penalty, but at the cost of increased fuel consumption which limits its use to short periods. This aircraft application of "reheat" contrasts with the meaning and implementation of "reheat" applicable to gas turbines driving electrical generators and which reduces fuel consumption.
The Saab 32 Lansen is a two-seat, transonic military aircraft designed and manufactured by the Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab AB.
The Rolls-Royce Olympus was the world's second two-spool axial-flow turbojet aircraft engine design, first run in May 1950 and preceded only by the Pratt & Whitney J57, first-run in January 1950. It is best known as the powerplant of the Avro Vulcan and later models in the Concorde SST.
The Rolls-Royce Spey is a low-bypass turbofan engine originally designed and manufactured by Rolls-Royce that has been in widespread service for over 40 years. A co-development version of the Spey between Rolls-Royce and Allison in the 1960s is the Allison TF41.
The General Electric J79 is an axial-flow turbojet engine built for use in a variety of fighter and bomber aircraft and a supersonic cruise missile. The J79 was produced by General Electric Aircraft Engines in the United States, and under license by several other companies worldwide. Among its major uses was the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, Convair B-58 Hustler, McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, North American A-5 Vigilante and IAI Kfir.
The Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene is a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. The Nene was a complete redesign, rather than a scaled-up Rolls-Royce Derwent, with a design target of 5,000 lbf (22 kN), making it the most powerful engine of its era. First run in 1944, it was Rolls-Royce's third jet engine to enter production, and first ran less than 6 months from the start of design. It was named after the River Nene in keeping with the company's tradition of naming its jet engines after rivers.
The General Electric/Allison J35 was the United States Air Force's first axial-flow compressor jet engine. Originally developed by General Electric in parallel with the Whittle-based centrifugal-flow J33, the J35 was a fairly simple turbojet, consisting of an eleven-stage axial-flow compressor and a single-stage turbine. With the afterburner, which most models carried, it produced a thrust of 7,400 lbf (33 kN).
The Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire is a British turbojet engine that was produced by Armstrong Siddeley in the 1950s. It was the ultimate development of work that had started as the Metrovick F.2 in 1940, evolving into an advanced axial flow design with an annular combustion chamber that developed over 11,000 lbf (49 kN). It powered early versions of the Hawker Hunter and Handley Page Victor, and every Gloster Javelin. Production was also started under licence in the United States by Wright Aeronautical as the J65, powering a number of US designs. The Sapphire's primary competitor was the Rolls-Royce Avon.
The General Electric J85 is a small single-shaft turbojet engine. Military versions produce up to 3,500 lbf (16 kN) of thrust dry; afterburning variants can reach up to 5,000 lbf (22 kN). The engine, depending upon additional equipment and specific model, weighs from 300 to 500 pounds. It is one of GE's most successful and longest in service military jet engines, with the civilian versions having logged over 16.5 million hours of operation. The United States Air Force plans to continue using the J85 in aircraft through 2040. Civilian models, known as the CJ610, are similar but supplied without an afterburner and are identical to non-afterburning J85 variants, while the CF700 adds a rear-mounted fan for improved fuel economy.
The Tumansky RD-9 was an early Soviet turbojet engine, not based on pre-existing German or British designs. The AM-5, developed by scaling down the AM-3, was available in 1952 and completed testing in 1953; it produced 25.5 kN (5,700 lbf) thrust without afterburner. The AM-5 engine is notable for making possible the first mass-produced supersonic interceptors such as the MiG-19, and the first Soviet all-weather area interceptor, the Yak-25. When Sergei Tumansky replaced Alexander Mikulin as the OKB-24's chief designer in 1956, the engine was renamed RD-9. The engine was later built under license in China as the WP-6.
The Bristol Siddeley Orpheus is a single-spool turbojet developed by Bristol Siddeley for various light fighter/trainer applications such as the Folland Gnat and the Fiat G.91. Later, the Orpheus formed the core of the first Bristol Pegasus vectored thrust turbofan used in the Harrier family.
The Westinghouse J40 was an early high-performance afterburning turbojet engine designed by Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division starting in 1946 to a US Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) request. BuAer intended to use the design in several fighter aircraft and a bomber. However, while an early low-power design was successful, attempts to scale it up to its full design power failed, and the design was finally abandoned, deemed a "fiasco" and a "flop".
The Rolls-Royce RB.106 was an advanced military turbojet engine design of the 1950s by Rolls-Royce Limited. The work was sponsored by the Ministry of Supply. The RB.106 project was cancelled in March 1957, at a reported total cost of £100,000.
The Pratt & Whitney J48 is a turbojet engine developed by Pratt & Whitney as a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Tay. The Tay/J48 was an enlarged development of the Rolls-Royce Nene.
The Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 was an Anglo-French turbojet with reheat, which powered the supersonic airliner Concorde. It was initially a joint project between Bristol Siddeley Engines Limited (BSEL) and Snecma, derived from the Bristol Siddeley Olympus 22R engine. Rolls-Royce Limited acquired BSEL in 1966 during development of the engine, making BSEL the Bristol Engine Division of Rolls-Royce.
The General Electric J73 turbojet was developed by General Electric from the earlier J47 engine. Its original USAF designation was J47-21, but with innovative features including variable inlet guide vanes, double-shell combustor case, and 50% greater airflow was redesignated J73. Its only operational use was in the North American F-86H.
The Volvo RM8 is a low-bypass afterburning turbofan jet engine developed for the Saab 37 Viggen fighter. An augmented bypass engine was required to give both better fuel consumption at cruise speeds and higher thrust boosting for its short take-off requirement than would be possible using a turbojet. In 1962, the civil Pratt & Whitney JT8D engine, as used for airliners such as the Boeing 727, was chosen as the only engine available which could be modified to meet the Viggen requirements. The RM8 was a licensed-built version of the JT8D, but extensively modified for supersonic speeds, with a Swedish-designed afterburner, and was produced by Svenska Flygmotor.
The Power Jets W.2 was a British turbojet engine designed by Frank Whittle and Power Jets Ltd. Like the earlier Power Jets W.1, the reverse-flow combustion configuration included a double-sided centrifugal compressor, 10 combustion chambers and an axial-flow turbine with air-cooled disc. It entered production as the Rolls-Royce Welland and was the first UK jet engine to power operational aircraft, the Gloster Meteor.
The STAL Dovern was a Swedish turbojet design of the early 1950s, named after a lake in Finspång municipality in Östergötland, Sweden. Intended to power the Saab 35 Draken, this aircraft was powered by the Rolls-Royce Avon instead. The Dovern did not enter production.
The Rolls-Royce Olympus turbojet engine was developed extensively throughout its production run, the many variants can be described as belonging to four main groups.
