Interesting.
Didn't think of that - even missile telemetry would be a problem at high dynamic pressures.
EDIT:
Was able to access further text - see below.
Interest vendors are locked but they're talking turbine based combined cycle.
Isn't that the Skunk Works design where the turbine is in the scramjet freeflow, up until the point the scramjet lights, and then the turbine retracts?
Hmmm - Rocketdyne - the door closes once the scramjet lights...
https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...ic-jet-engine/
II. TOPIC OVERVIEW a. Objective Develop and validate performance of robust distributed instrumentation in air-platform extreme environments (combined thermal, mechanical, and acoustic loading). b. Description Turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) vehicles will be flying in conditions that subject their propulsion systems to harsh environments not previously seen by reusable air vehicles. While they fly over narrower regimes, other single-use hypersonic vehicles experience many of the same harsh conditions experienced by TBCC vehicles. Even conventional aircraft may have areas of combined thermal, mechanical, and acoustic loading. For control systems in high-speed systems, the improvement in advanced instrumentation technologies are required to achieve the required performance and operability over the vehicle’s flight trajectory. This wide range of application environments necessitates extensive ground testing, which must also utilize advanced instrumentation technologies to characterize the performance and operability of the vehicles. At the same time, these instruments will need to be robust enough to survive repeated testing in simulated environments, and in operational environments on flight vehicles with low false-alarm rates. Physical understanding and modeling of representative environments is required to provide invaluable insight into the challenge of integrating these instruments into future applications. Sensing modalities addressing key phenomena, including aerodynamics, boundary layer transition, thermal protection system performance, ablative properties, material effects, and scramjet engine operation are desired. Improvements in instrumentation techniques could reduce uncertainty in ground and flight tests, increase safety, and improve design of future air platforms. Conventional instruments suffer from an inability to survive extreme environments and do not provide reliable, distributed data such as pressure, temperature, heat flux, shear, displacement, flow velocity, Mach, equivalence ratio, core flow properties, etc. Proper instrument types that are robust, reliable, have a low packing factor, and are easy to replace are vital to enabling next-generation air platforms and high-speed weapons. This topic seeks to address the above challenges through the construction of innovative distributed instrumentation applicable to high-speed testing and operations. This effort will culminate in a robust instrumentation system (e.g. sensor, wiring, signal processor) to advance testing capabilities and provide more effective decision-making data for both test and/or operational vehicles. The validation data that could be gathered by an instrumentation system resulting from this work would assist in effective operation of next-generation hypersonic vehicles. It is also expected that the instrumentation system developed by this effort will help to improve data gathering in any propulsion system experiencing high thermoacoustic loads (i.e., buried engines in subsonic and supersonic platforms). c. Phase I Develop a distributed instrumentation system design to meet hypersonic propulsion system requirements. Develop instrument design and fabrication techniques. Conduct system-level modeling and analysis and show improvements in propulsion and overall vehicle and/or test article performance. Develop plans for demonstrating the instrumentation system in a relevant environment. Designs capable of advancing hypersonic vehicle research are of particular interest, but designs that facilitate hypersonic research article testing are also desired. Phase I deliverables will include a final report that contains the initial instrumentation system design and preliminary performance results. Phase I payable milestones for this SBO should include: i. Month 2: Report on requirements for instrumentation system architectures, and potential instrumentation system architectures ii. Month 4: Report on acquisition/fabrication feasibility of potential instrumentation architectures; preliminary plans for demonstrating the instrumentation system in a relevant environment iii. Month 6: Phase I Final Report containing initial instrumentation system design and preliminary performance results Proposers interested in submitting a Direct to Phase II (DP2) proposal must provide documentation to substantiate that the scientific and technical merit and feasibility described above has been met and describes the potential commercial applications. Documentation should include all relevant information including, but not limited to: technical reports, test data, prototype designs/models, and performance goals/results. For detailed information on DP2 requirements and eligibility, please refer to section 4.2 and Appendix B of HR001119S0035. d. Phase II Complete development of the instrumentation system and perform ground and/or flight testing of the system. Focus should be on validation of the system in the harsh environments experienced by hypersonic vehicles, but other extreme environment applications may also be considered. Collect instrument performance data and demonstrate utility for hypersonic systems. Phase II deliverables will include a final report that contains the finished instrumentation system and demonstrations results. Phase II payable milestones for this SBO should include: i. Month 2: Technical and financial status update ii. Month 4: Technical and financial status update iii. Month 6: Report on final design of instrumentation system; technical and financial status update iv. Month 8: Technical and financial status update v. Month 10: Technical and financial status update vi. Month 12: Report on status of demonstrating the selected instrumentation system in a relevant environment; technical and financial status update vii. Month 16: Technical and financial status update viii. Month 18: Technical and financial status update ix. Month 20: Technical and financial status update x. Month 22: Technical and financial status update xi. Month 24: Phase II Final Report on finished instrumentation system; demonstrations results xii. Month 26: Option-period technical and financial status update xiii. Month 28: Option-period technical and financial status update xiv. Month 30: Option-period technical and financial status update xv. Month 32: Option-period technical and financial status update xvi. Month 34: Phase II Option Final Report e. Dual Use Applications (Phase III) An innovative sensing and instrumentation system may be an enabler of future supersonic and hypersonic commercial aircraft, enable reusable access to space, and enable the military to develop reusable hypersonic aircraft and expendable weapons.