The Sprite was a British rocket engine built by de Havilland for use in RATO (Rocket-assisted take off) applications. For RATO use only a short burn time is required, with simplicity and light weight as major virtues. The intended market was for assisting take-off of de Havilland Comet 1 airliners (as hot and high operations in the British Empire were considered important) and also for V bombers carrying heavy nuclear weapons