MG23, hi
the sense of the news release is the "new art" involved in the cooling of the inlet air. SR71 operated to Mach 3 without inlet cooling, so the gap in performance can be assumed to be between 3 and 10, or so.
from the pic, the new device seems ponderous, and relies on separate refrigerant than the liquified H or O. Quite a bit of extra weight. So my conjecture is around Rolls' "exchanger". The inlet air appears to be linear. There must be some payoff to extend the useful phase of the turbojet, rather than ignite the rocket earlier.
Has anyone talked to Rutan? He relies on mother/payload, turbojet rocket hybrid architecture. Unifying the two modes must have some benefit I cannot see.
Rolls does have some recent ad hoc experience with water ice and fuel at the heat exchangers. (BA 038) That is actually why I thought it to be a wind up, initially. You know, kind of an inside joke?
Mr. Bond has been working at this since 1989?