Army's New UAS Powerplant Looks Promising, with Increased TBO, Generation, and Power

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, in many ways America's flagship combat UAV manufacturer, has finished up durability testing on a new 200-hp engine.

The firm calls it the "Heavy Fuel Engine (HFE) 2.0", designed to provide 2,500 hours between overhauls and chug along for long flights with nary a complaint. The final durability test put their test unit through a ringer of 1,250 full-power takeoffs and climbs, along with 200 hours of cruise with a fallback generator setup to simulate a worst-case loading condition. At the end of it all, General Atomics gave it the nod, setting it up for the Army's upcoming Multi-Domain Ops UAS. Now, it only needs one more 150-hour test and it can get the Army's final approval before moving down the production pipeline.

The new powerplant beats the older HFE by a rousing 20 horsepower, intended to be the beating heart of the Gray Eagle 25M. The HFE 2.0 project began in 2016, when General Atomics wanted to improve on the Thielert Centurion included on older Gray Eagles, while bringing a little more of its manufacture under American purview.

Aside from the modest power bump and reliability improvements, General Atomics expects the new HFE 2.0 to boast 50% more electrical power, too, always an important bonus whenever electrically thirsty processors and computers are tacked on with ever-expanding features.

“Our HFE 2.0 engine is now the best heavy fuel engine in aviation,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “Hats off to our Internal Research and Development team whose ingenuity and technical sophistication inspired the HFE 2.0 program, allowing us to develop a more reliable and durable engine that also addresses diminishing manufacturing sources for aviation heavy fuel engines and components.”

FMI: www.ga-asi.com