Kindof reminds me of the RD-180 rocket engines. NASA considered Oxidizer-rich staged combustion (pre-burner cycles) but deemed it impossible or far to difficult, the Soviets on the other hand tried it and as a result developed engines that were radically more efficent.
IIRC in the '90's when NASA was looking to buy some RD-180's they laughed when they were told the specific impulses of the engines because they were leagues better than anything they could build and assumed they were joking.
It's neat how different design philosophies and constraints can come up with some surprisingly different results.