Oxfordshire-based Reaction Engines Ltd has appointed Steve Gill as its new chief commercial officer.

He will be responsible for building and growing the company’s Applied Technologies business, as well as supporting its wider commercial decision making.

Mr Gill has previously held leadership positions in a number of industries including aerospace, F1 and re-
newables. 2018 was a busy year for Reaction Engines.

The company raised £26.5 million from new investors, including Rolls-Royce and Boeing’s venture capital arm (Horizon X), taking the total amount raised over the last three years to more than £100 million.

It also had teams hard at work in both the UK and the USA, constructing two test facilities that will be used to validate the performance of key parts of its Sabre engine.

In Colorado, Reaction Engines (www.reactionengines.co.uk) recently completed the construction of a new air-flow test facility (TF2), which will enable the pre-cooler test article (HTX) to be exposed to the high-temperature air-flow conditions (over 1,000°C) that are expected during high-speed flights — up to Mach 5.

The company’s engineers in Oxfordshire constructed the HTX test article, which was shipped to Colorado after initial commissioning.

System tests are now being conducted ahead of the ‘hot’ heat exchanger tests.

Meanwhile, the company’s test site (TF1) is on track in the UK.

It is located at Westcott Venture Park in Buckinghamshire (a location with a strong history of rocket propulsion research, having been used to test various UK rocket projects since 1946, including the Blue Streak and Black Arrow programmes).

TF1 is due to be commissioned this year. It will enable Reaction Engines to test critical sub-systems along with a Sabre engine core.