The present invention is a pulse detonation combustion system, having a plurality of detonation initiation devices coupled to a main combustion chamber, where each of the detonation initiation devices is operating out-of-phase with each other. Each of the detonation initiation devices assists in the initiation of a detonation in the main combustion chamber, out-of-phase from each other such that the operational frequency of the pulse detonation combustion system is related to the number of detonation initiation devices multiplied by the operational frequency of a single detonation initiation device.