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By:

Commodore S.L. Deshmukh

31 October 2024 at 8:30:19 am

The Detonation Race Is On

Rotating detonation engines could redefine propulsion in the near future, and India cannot afford to be a bystander For more than a century, the basic architecture of the jet and rocket engine has remained remarkably resilient. Fuel is burned, gases expand and turbines, compressors or other components turn that energy into thrust. Now, a different idea is beginning to move from laboratories towards operational propulsion: the rotating detonation engine (RDE). It replaces conventional...

The Detonation Race Is On

Rotating detonation engines could redefine propulsion in the near future, and India cannot afford to be a bystander For more than a century, the basic architecture of the jet and rocket engine has remained remarkably resilient. Fuel is burned, gases expand and turbines, compressors or other components turn that energy into thrust. Now, a different idea is beginning to move from laboratories towards operational propulsion: the rotating detonation engine (RDE). It replaces conventional combustion with a continuously travelling supersonic detonation wave, promising greater efficiency in a smaller and mechanically simpler package. If propulsion is a contest between how much energy can be extracted from fuel and how little machinery is required to do it, RDEs have an intriguing advantage. An RDE works inside an annular, or ring-shaped, combustion chamber. Fuel and oxidiser are injected into the chamber and ignited. Instead of a conventional flame moving relatively slowly through the mixture, a detonation wave races around the chamber at supersonic speed. The wave compresses and ignites fresh fuel as it travels, creating a self-sustaining cycle. The resulting high-temperature gases are expelled axially, generating continuous thrust. Improving Fuel Efficiency That is fundamentally different from the combustion process used by traditional engines. Conventional gas-turbine engines operating on the Brayton cycle rely on subsonic deflagration - a rapid burning process in which the flame front travels through the combustible mixture at less than the speed of sound. RDEs generally operate on the Humphrey cycle, using pressure-gain combustion to extract more useful energy from the chemical reaction before the gases are expelled. Detonation-based combustion has the potential to improve fuel efficiency by as much as 25 percent compared with conventional engines. RDEs can also dispense with some of the heavy and complicated moving machinery associated with traditional propulsion systems. That creates the possibility of engines that are smaller, lighter and easier to manufacture. For missiles and rockets, where every kilogram matters, such advantages are particularly valuable. The appeal extends beyond efficiency. A continuously propagating detonation wave can provide steady thrust while eliminating the need for a conventional turbine-compressor architecture. The result could be a propulsion system suited to hypersonic missiles, high-speed aircraft, space vehicles and other platforms where compactness and performance matter as much as raw power. That said, maintaining a smooth and stable detonation wave is extraordinarily demanding. Fuel injection must be precisely controlled and the geometry of the combustion chamber carefully engineered. The number, spacing and shape of injectors can determine whether the detonation remains stable or breaks down. Inside the chamber, extreme temperatures and pressures place enormous demands on engine walls, requiring advanced cooling systems and high-performance materials. These engineering problems explain why the RDE revolution has been promising for years without yet becoming routine technology. The challenge is no longer simply demonstrating that a detonation can be sustained. It is turning that phenomenon into a reliable, durable and flight-ready propulsion system. Production Race The United States is pushing ahead on several fronts. NASA has successfully tested full-scale RDEs producing more than 5,800 pounds of thrust and is planning to raise that figure to 10,000 pounds for potential lunar and Mars missions. Pratt & Whitney, part of RTX, has conducted extensive RDE testing for military applications, exploring high-speed and long-range propulsion with a simpler architecture. DARPA is pursuing RDE technology for hypersonic standoff missiles under its Gambit programme, while L3Harris has conducted long-duration, full-scale tests aimed at advancing next-generation missile propulsion. The international competition is broader still. Japan’s JAXA, GE Aerospace and Chinese institutions have been pursuing RDE applications in rockets and hybrid air-breathing engines, including systems intended for hypersonic flight. China, in particular, is treating the technology as part of its broader push towards high-speed aerospace and military systems. Researchers at Tsinghua University introduced a hybrid design in 2024 combining a ramjet with a rotating rotor compressor, intended to improve starting at lower speeds and enhance performance during flight. In 2025, scientists at the Beijing Power Machinery Research Institute reportedly completed a milestone test of an RDE operating steadily for 180 seconds at Mach 6.3. Recent Chinese test engines have also reportedly incorporated specialised materials capable of tolerating internal temperatures of up to 2,500°C. For India, therefore, RDEs are no longer merely an interesting engineering experiment but are fast becoming part of the strategic propulsion race. India has already taken an important step. Defence propulsion start-up D-Propulse, incubated at IIT Madras, has demonstrated what it describes as the country’s first indigenous 5 kN air-breathing RDE coupled with an aerospike nozzle. The hot-fire demonstration was conducted at a DRDO test facility and reportedly achieved Technology Readiness Level-5 validation in the specified environment. That matters because it represents a movement from laboratory research towards an integrated propulsion prototype. D-Propulse has stated that it is targeting a flight-ready engine by December 2027. The company says its technology can deliver 15–25 percent higher thermodynamic efficiency than conventional air-breathing propulsion systems and can be produced through precision machining rather than complex turbine assemblies, potentially reducing both production costs and lead times. The applications could be considerable. Defence systems could include hypersonic missiles, air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons and compact propulsion systems for standoff strike platforms. In space, RDEs could find uses in upper-stage rocket engines, planetary landers and deep-space propulsion, where higher efficiency and lower engine mass are particularly valuable. The technology could even migrate beyond aerospace: RDE-based gas turbines could potentially generate electricity with greater thermal efficiency and lower fuel consumption. The larger significance is that propulsion technology often determines what a country can build, how far it can travel and how quickly it can respond. RDEs remain an emerging technology, and their promise should not be confused with operational maturity. But countries that solve the problems of stability, materials, cooling and reliable fuel injection first could gain an important advantage in the next generation of aerospace and defence systems. (The writer is a retired naval aviation officer and a defence and geopolitical analyst. Views personal.)

The University Is Running on the Wrong Clock

Generation Z is entering a world of continuous technological and career disruption, but our higher education remains organised around industrial-era assumptions

It can take a few months for a university syllabus to be revised. In just weeks, Generative AI has revolutionized how millions learn. It doesn’t have to be a failure in either case. They are just from different ages. This is the conundrum of higher education these days. The governments announce educational reforms every few years, yet dissatisfaction persists. Students are concerned with being employable. Employers gripe about job readiness. Universities have a poor ability to predict future needs. Policymakers respond in turn with another round of reforms.


India’s education problem is typically perceived as a curriculum, infrastructure, or implementation challenge. Underneath all these is a bigger challenge: how do we reform an institution for the Industrial Age to prepare a generation of people for a life in an era of constant disruption?


Industrial Logic

Higher education was "industrialised" for over 200 years. Economies needed uniformity, differentiation and certainty. Knowledge was scarce. Know-how was localized in institutions. Careers were more or less linear. A degree indicated that one was ready for a profession – and sometimes a career. Universities did an amazing job in meeting that mission. They trained engineers for industrial development, administrators for the modern states, teachers for mass education, and professionals for expanding corporations. It was all good enough for a world where change occurred at a relatively slow pace.


Generation Z is the generation that is living in a different world. There are more ideas and information available than is generally desired. Knowledge is becoming widely spread. Jobs have become non-linear. A professional identity is constantly reconstructed. AI is emerging as a partner to learning and work. The youth entering Universities now will probably change professions and learn new technologies many times in their life. This disconnect can be explained by considering what can be referred to as “the three clocks of education”.


The ‘technology clock’ moves in months. The digital world is transforming the ways people communicate, create and work at an unprecedented rate. Educational systems often have not yet grasped the implications of entire industries changing.


The second is the ‘labour-market clock’ which moves in years. Occupations arise, develop and perish. The life cycle of skills has shortened.


The third is the ‘university clock’. It operates on a 10-year time scale. Committees, approval and regulatory processes are needed for revisions to curriculum. Accreditation cycles are a reward for consistency. Recruitment of faculty is a lengthy process.


These clocks swung in harmony for a large part of the 20th century. But today, that synchronisation has broken down. The failure to reform education over and over is because the policymakers are trying to accelerate the university clock. That’s why just introducing new subjects won’t resolve the problem when knowledge is fast changing.


Global Challenge, Indian Reality

The same issues are being faced by higher education institutions globally. In a generation where the use of AI tools for academic work has become widespread, U.S. and U.K. universities are reimagining assessment. Skills-Future is Singapore’s approach recognising that lifelong learning is the new paradigm and moves towards stacking micro-credentials and cross-institutional recognition.


In an era of continuous change, the present poses a question: How shall people learn throughout their lives?


The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) brought in transformative reforms such as credit bankability (Academic Bank of Credits), multiple entry multiple exit, multidisciplinary learning, and flexibility in the curriculum. These measures are rightfully recognizing a need for learner-centred and flexible pathways. But five years later, it is being implemented inconsistently. Structural barriers like stiff administrative procedures, faculty resistance, accreditation restrictions and lack of capacity still prevent NEP’s vision from being fully realised.


In the interim, AICTE has announced 2025 as the “Year of Artificial Intelligence”, which will involve incorporating the technology in all 14,000 engineering colleges and 40 million students. The council has initiated the model curricula in emerging areas, created AI labs in association with industries and launched faculty development programmes with ATAL Academy. AI has become part of the curriculum for all engineering branches. These are great strides, but could be another curriculum addition and not institutional transformation.


Modular learning is also being tried at Indian universities. Recently, IGNOU in collaboration with Germany’s GIZ introduced micro-credential courses on AI: Data Fundamental and Data Fundamental for Non-Technical Learners on the SWAYAM platform. The NPTEL scheme of IITs provides hundreds of free online courses, which can be accumulated for career enhancement. But these initiatives are not part of the main degree system; they are available to only a small number of students; and they are not yet fully adopted into the national credit-recognition system.


According to the Economic Survey 2024–25, just 8.25 percent of the graduates are working in a job corresponding to their educational level, more than half of them engaged in an elementary or semi-skilled position where they are not expected to bring their educational attainment. The overall employability of graduates fell to 42.6 percent in 2024 despite an increase in AI/ML skills to 46 percent, according to a 2024 employability study. The gap between education and work is real, and it is growing.


Copernican Moment

Knowledge, a scarce commodity, was the basis for organizing educational institutions for centuries. Information is always available. A student can attend lectures, courses, tutorials and participate in professional communities and AI tools virtually from anywhere. The universities are no longer the sole holders of knowledge. Hence their relevance is elsewhere. The ability to make decisions when there is too much information is key. It is at the heart of helping students to differentiate between evidence and opinion, between understanding and information, between wisdom and mere prediction. It involves fostering intellectual communities where disagreement is constructive, ethical thinking is promoted and ideas are challenged, but not swallowed. Judgement is more in short supply than information in a world of plenty. For this reason, a future in higher education cannot be based on delivering content. For one thing, AI will keep changing more rapidly than any course. Information is beyond the scope of universities to compete with machines in.


‘Generation Z’ has a more innate grasp of this world than many institutions. Learning is no longer limited to campus or to one’s lifetime. The university’s continued relevance is that digital ‘nativity’ is not critical judgement nor ethical reasoning. Furthermore, not every Gen Z student is “prepared” for AI because of access disparities in AI tools, digital infrastructure, and student self-directed learning ability. The question is, is it to assume all young people are ready for this world, or to make sure that institutions are ready for all young people?


Educational reform is not just about an additional course, another technology or another vocational programme. It’s a bigger challenge to restructure institutions around adaptability.


India could adapt Singapore’s SkillsFuture model of cross-institutional recognition, allowing credentials to accumulate across universities, online courses and industry certifications. IGNOU’s micro-credentials and IITs’ NPTEL courses provide a foundation, but they need to be integrated into a national framework for seamless credit transfer and recognition.


Universities should establish curriculum review boards with industry professionals to update rapidly changing fields annually or even twice a year. AICTE’s AI mandates and model curricula are a start, but curricula must become continuously evolving rather than periodically revised.


In the age of AI, traditional essays and standardised tests are losing relevance. Assessment should instead reward reasoning, iteration, collaboration and AI-enabled problem-solving—skills that machines cannot easily replicate.


20th universities answered a simple question: What should everyone know? The 21st century demands a harder one: What kind of person should an educated person become? Reform will remain an exercise in tweaking the old system until universities begin answering that second question.


The future is asking them to reimagine their purpose. Institutions that cultivate judgement, adaptability, moral accountability and intellectual strength will help define the century to come. That should be at the heart of India’s educational reform debate.

(The writer is Professor at Christ (Deemed to be University). Views personal.)

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