DeJohnette drives systems have been produced in small numbers at the same facility for more than a decade, which is one of the few facilities within human space that is capable of producing reactors at such scale. Some of the only larger reactor designs are those custom built for SLE assemblies. The original lead engineers on the project were unable to decide who's name to put on the drive itself, and would instead agree to put the name of an early pioneer in (Jazz) Fusion on the device. It has since been continually upgraded and refined over the decades.

Smaller fusion drives that require more often rebuilds are far more economical to produce, and the decrease in interest in exploring other star systems has shrunk the market for these kinds of drive systems. Throughout the 2200s corporations that built these style of drives either continued to tool themselves for more economical drive systems, or consolidate with rival companies in an effort to turn profitable.

By the 2300s, at least within the Hawking System, the maker of the DeJohnette system was kept in business entirely by the Magnetic Assembly's continued use of the Hayden 2 style exploration ship. This ship type was largely the only type of star ship they had in service capable of making the extreme long distance trips over 100 ly in range.

The Bulk of the reactor system is the Fusion Torus. This massive Tokamak style reactor is designed to be able to run for years without stopping, using incredibly durable materials, catonite lining to assist with power production, molten salts for cooling, and thick layers of self repairing materials inside of the reaction chamber itself.

The design itself is concerned with reliability, efficiency, and power output in that order, resulting in an incredibly heavy reactor design with poor acceleration characteristics but massive Delta V and energy output that can operate for the entire duration of a multi-year mission.

The reactor is also intended to be used as part of the engine system, super heating reaction mass for high efficiency propulsion, or diverting reactor plasma out of the reactor to increase thrust as the cost of energy output.

Intended to be used to start the Fusion Torus from a completely offline state, the fusion drive assembly also has three fission reactors designed to fully charge the Fusion Torus as part of the startup procedure.

Providing a small amount of power at all times, the drive systems' RTS use nuclear decay to reliably produce a small amount of power at all times. Even in the event of a catastrophic system failure, RTGs will provide power, allowing for the automated control systems of the drive to restart and carry out any needed operations.

In line with the design philosophy of being able to run for years without maintenance, the drive system contains a drive bell that is large and heavy. It is designed to handle both the long term wear from the thermally heated reaction mass from the reactor as well as from chemical rocket fuels or reactor plasma itself.

Although the drive assembly is intended to be run without maintenance for years, in practicality maintenance is suggested to occur more often than every 10 years. Due to the mission profile of high risk, extreme distance missions, it is expected that the reactor will receive a full rebuild every time a long duration mission is completed or anytime the opportunity to do so presents itself.

Short of a full rebuild, there are additional steps that can be taken to ensure the longevity of the engine system.

Micrometeorites, dust, and even cosmic radiation can cause damage to the Drive Bell. The Bell itself is designed to be thick enough to survive such damage in the long term but the outer paneling should be regularly examined and replaced as needed.