A DARPA-backed small business effort broke boundaries for long-endurance flight this month by launching a uniquely designed, combustion-powered unmanned aircraft that stayed aloft for more than two days and two nights.
Category Archives: Aircraft Propulsion & Energy
French Air Force Gets Fuel Cell Powered Quad
EnergyOr Technologies Inc. recently shipped the first H2QUAD 1000 to the French Air Force’s Centre d’ Expertise Aérienne Militaire (CEAM) as it enters into the second phase of the Joint Development Agreement (JDA) signed in February 2016. This JDA serves as the foundation to advance development of optimized long endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) powered by EnergyOr’s fuel cell system technology. Continue reading
UAE Research Shows Hydrogen Could Lift UAS Higher
The American University of Sharjah has announced that a research exercise run by Prof Mohamed Gadalla, of the mechanical engineering department, has resulted in a multi-propeller drone powered by a hydrogen fuel cell being flown in front of the main university building.
NRL’s First Flight with Custom Hydrogen Fuel Cell
Researchers from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s chemistry and tactical electronic warfare divisions completed the first flight of the Ion Tiger unmanned air vehicle with a new hydrogen-powered fuel cell built in-house.
Neva Releases OEM Electric Turbo-Fans Optimised for VTOL and STOL Commercial UAS
The pan-European Neva Aerospace consortium, which is developing heavy-duty drones, industrial and commercial unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and vehicles (UAV) based on its patented distributed thrust concept, has released the first OEM electric turbofan (ETF) to the aerospace market. These ETFs are claimed to be between two and four times as efficient as existing, standard electric ducted fans (EDFs). Continue reading
AirMast – Sky Mast for Communication and Surveillance
SPH Engineering presents a ready-to-fly tethered drone system – AirMast. Compared to some conventional mast systems AirMast is easy and quickly deployable mean to bring up sensors in the sky, not requiring operators specific technical knowledge. Continue reading
Arcturus, HEC-TINA Partner on Hydrogen Engine
The Hydrogen Engine Center (HEC-TINA) and Arcturus UAV have announced a joint partnership to develop a hydrogen fuelled internal combustion engine capable of supporting the T-20 family of unmanned aircraft. Continue reading
Boeing ‘Base Station’ Concept Would Autonomously Refuel Military Drones
Small drones are already effective weapons for urban warfare—when armed with miniature warheads, these stealthy spies can turn into lethal assassins. So far their biggest limitation is battery life, but Boeing’s patent for a drone battle station sets out to overcome that. Continue reading