NASA has awarded five-year contracts to 11 companies to provide revolutionary research into new aerospace engines to support its Ultra Efficient Technology program. The contracts could total up to $197 million each. The contracts fund research into air-breathing engines, pulse-detonation engines, auxiliary power systems, propulsion and airframe integration, rocket-based combined cycle, turbine-based combined cycle, design tools and cross-cutting technologies.

The program is intended to develop a high performance, efficient, economic and environmentally compatible U.S. aircraft. The goal is to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 70% and improve fuel efficiency by 35% for large subsonic transportation.

Those awarded contracts are: Allison Advanced Development Co. (Indianapolis), Advanced Projects Research Inc. (La Verne, CA), Aerojet (Sacramento, CA), The Boeing Co. (Seattle), CFD Research (Huntsville, AL), General Applied Science Lab (Ronkonkoma, NY), General Electric Aircraft Engines (Cincinnati), Honeywell Engines and Systems (Phoenix), Lockheed-Martin Aeronautics Co. (Fort Worth, TX), United Technologies (East Hartford, CT) and Williams International (Walled Lake, MI).