Rocketdyne AR2


The Rocketdyne AR2, also known by the military designation LR42, was a family of liquid-fuelled rocket engines designed and produced in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s.

Design and development

The Rocketdyne division of North American Aviation developed a relatively small liquid-fuelled rocket engine for thrust augmentation of manned aircraft during the late 1950s. The AR2 is a single-chamber rocket engine burning kerosene jet fuel, oxidised with 90% High Test Peroxide, allowing the engine to use the same fuel as an aircraft fuel system. The variable-thrust AR2 is a direct development of the fixed thrust AR1, which was given the military designation LR36.
The AR2-3 had variable-thrust and single lever throttle control, regulating flow of oxidiser to the turbo-pump gas-generator and thus flow of propellants to the combustion chamber.

Operational history

Initial flight trials were carried out attached to the belly of North American F-86F-30-NA Sabre re-designated F-86F, boosting performance to a top speed of M1.22 at.
The AR2-3 was evaluated in 1999 as part of the Future-X Demonstrator Engine project, for possible use in the Boeing X-37 Reusable Upper Stage Vehicle at a thrust of, with a specific impulse of 245 seconds.

Variants

;AR-1: Initial fixed-thrust variant.
;AR2-1: prototype, test and development variable-thrust engines.
;AR2-2:test and development engines.
;AR2-3:Production engines for research and development projects like the NF-104A.

Applications

  • North American F-86F
  • Lockheed NF-104A

    Specifications (AR2-3)