GE uses AI to design ramjet

GE Aerospace said on May 19 that researchers used an in-house generative AI application to produce preliminary layouts for a hypersonic dual-mode ramjet in seconds, a task the company said usually takes months. The work was carried out at the GE Aerospace Research Center in Niskayuna, New York, and the company described it as a proof of concept for speeding up early engine design. (geaerospace.com) AeroTime first reported the announcement on Tuesday, citing GE’s account of the project. The demonstration sits at the front end of engine development rather than at the testing stage. GE said the software generated hundreds of candidate configurations that satisfied a customer’s stated requirements across multiple flight conditions and scenarios. (geaerospace.com) The company said engineers still have to sort through those candidates, run physics-based analysis and move selected concepts into hardware testing. ### How fast did GE say the tool worked? GE Aerospace said the application produced a preliminary ramjet layout in “mere seconds” and created hundreds of designs in the time a conventional study would take to generate only a small set. The company framed the project as a way to compress early trade studies, when engineers compare shapes, flow paths and operating assumptions before committing to more detailed work. (geaerospace.com) AeroTime reported that GE presented the exercise as a way to move from months-long concept work to rapid exploration of a wider design space. That report matched GE’s own description of the effort as preliminary design work rather than a finished engine program. (geaerospace.com) ### What exactly was GE designing? GE Aerospace said the target was a hypersonic dual-mode ramjet, an air-breathing engine concept intended to operate at very high speeds. The company has been building out hypersonics work for several years through its Research Center, Edison Works and Innoveering, the propulsion specialist it acquired in 2022. In December 2023, GE said it had demonstrated what it described as a world-first rig test of a hypersonic dual-mode ramjet with rotating detonation combustion in a supersonic flow stream. (geaerospace.com) In January 2026, GE and Lockheed Martin said they had also run direct-connect tests of an air-breathing rotating detonation ramjet for missile applications at Niskayuna. (aerotime.aero) ### Why is GE linking this to RISE? GE Aerospace said it is extending the same generative workflow toward the CFM RISE program, the next-generation engine effort being developed by CFM International, the GE Aerospace-Safran joint venture. GE said the aim is to accelerate early trade-space exploration there as well, using the tool to surface more candidate layouts before engineers narrow the field. (geaerospace.com) The RISE program is centered on technologies for a future narrowbody engine, including an open-fan architecture, according to GE’s release. GE did not say that the ramjet work would be transferred directly into a commercial engine design; it said the demonstration showed how the workflow could be applied more broadly across military and commercial engine studies. (geaerospace.com) ### Does this replace conventional engineering work? GE Aerospace said it does not. The company said the generative system can shorten the front end of design, but candidate layouts still require physics-based validation and hardware testing before they can be treated as viable engine configurations. (geaerospace.com) That distinction matters because the May 19 announcement covered concept generation, not a flight test or production decision. GE’s next stated step is to apply the workflow to other engine studies, including the CFM RISE program, while continuing validation through established engineering and test processes. (geaerospace.com)