Gas turbine engine

A gas turbine engine, comprising:

• (a) a casing having a longitudinal axis, said casing defining an inlet gas passageway for receiving an inlet gas, and an exhaust gas passageway for discharge of combustion gases;
• (b) a compact compressor-combustor comprising
• (1) an axial flow compressor rotor comprising a compressor shaft, at least one compressor disc, and a plurality of impulse blades associated with said at least one compressor disc, said plurality of impulse blades having a peripheral shroud and being sized and shaped to increase velocity of said inlet gas received from said inlet gas passageway from a relative subsonic velocity to a relative supersonic velocity;
• and
• (2) a stator comprising a plurality of aerodynamic ducts disposed about said longitudinal axis, and each comprising (A) a supersonic diffuser including a portion having a converging cross-sectional area in a flow-wise direction, for receiving said inlet gas at relative supersonic velocity and decelerating the inlet gas using one or more shock structures, (B) a subsonic diffuser including a portion having diverging cross-sectional area in a flow-wise direction, for decelerating said inlet gas to convert kinetic energy to pressure, (C) a throat located between said supersonic diffuser and said subsonic diffuser and including a portion having minimal cross-sectional area within said aerodynamic duct, (D) a fuel supply mechanism for supply of fuel, (E) a flameholder located downstream of the throat, wherein the fuel is combusted to generate the combustion gases, and (F) a choke;
• (c) a turbine located downstream of the choke and comprising a turbine shaft, at least one turbine disc, and plurality of turbine impulse blades associated with each of said at least one turbine disc, said plurality of turbine impulse blades having a peripheral shroud, the turbine configured to receive the combustion gases from said aerodynamic ducts and discharge the combustion gases to the exhaust gas passageway, said plurality of turbine blades configured to extract power from said combustion gases and generate shaft power.