Aircraft power plant with detonation combustion tube

An aircraft power plant, comprising:

• a combustion engine having an outlet outputting combustion gases;
• a turbine located downstream of the combustion engine relative to the combustion gases;
• a detonation combustion tube fluidly connecting the combustion engine to the turbine, the detonation combustion tube having a tube inlet and a tube outlet;
• a member disposed within the detonation combustion tube downstream of the tube inlet and upstream of the tube outlet, the member having an open position in which the tube inlet is fluidly connected to the tube outlet through the member and a closed position in which the tube inlet is fluidly disconnected from the tube outlet by the member;
• a fuel injector fluidly connected to the detonation combustion tube downstream of the outlet of the combustion engine;
• an igniter located downstream of the member and operatively connected to the detonation combustion tube;
• and
• a controller operatively connected to the fuel injector and to the igniter, the controller configured to, in response to receiving of a command:
• a) inject a fuel into the detonation combustion tube via the fuel injector,
• b) once the member is in the closed position, power the igniter to ignite a mixture of the combustion gases and the fuel injected into the detonation combustion tube, and
• c) repeat steps a) and b) for each of a plurality of successive cycles of combustion sequentially occurring one after the other.