Photo: General Atomics
It’s been almost a year since defense contractor General Atomics and its partner in crime, Cosworth, began trying to bring an improved heavy fuel engine (HFE) for drones into the world, but the light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible.
Called HFE 2.0, the powerplant has made it into the news before, but this time it does so with good news in tow: durability testing has concluded, opening the doors to the engine’s actual deployment into military drones, more specifically the Gray Eagle.
The aircraft is one of the oldest in America’s arsenal, having made its first flight exactly 20 years ago. Because it is relatively old, efforts are currently being made to bring it into modern times, including by tampering with its engine.
There are several versions of the drone in operation at the moment, including the Gray Eagle Extended Range and the Gray Eagle 25M, and it is specifically these two the new engine targets.
At the time of writing the Extended Range uses a heavy-fuel engine that delivers 180 horsepower, and this one is in need of replacement, or so the U.S. Army believes. The new version of the powerplant, whose testing concluded in mid-May in El Mirage, California, is rated at 200 horsepower thanks in part to upgrades made to the gearbox and dual brushless generators.
The 25M, on the other hand, is meant to bring a lot more capabilities to the table than current versions of the Gray Eagle, including a five-time increase in processing power, 80 times more data storage capability, and ten times more RAM power.
While all of the above jumps in capability do not really require an engine to be achieved, it’s only natural for General Atomics to pick the newest version of the powerplant to power the drone.
That’s not in small part because the HFE 2.0, described by its maker as “the best heavy fuel engine in aviation,” should allow these Gray Eagles to operate for up to 2,500 hours (that’s more than 100 days) without needing maintenance or overhauls.
To ensure this, General Atomics conducted serious tests on the hardware, simulating an entire 2,500-hour cycle of operation with “the highest flight loads that could ever be seen in the field.”
During the runs, the engine was made to believe it performed no less than 1,250 full-power takeoffs, reached high-cruising altitude, and flew 200 hours in “worst-case generator loading conditions.”
The engine’s trials and tribulations are not over yet. Before it gets to make the Gray Eagle the drone enemies run but can’t escape from, another 150 hours of testing will be performed in September. After that, certification runs for use at the hands of the U.S. Army will take place.
The aircraft is one of the oldest in America’s arsenal, having made its first flight exactly 20 years ago. Because it is relatively old, efforts are currently being made to bring it into modern times, including by tampering with its engine.
There are several versions of the drone in operation at the moment, including the Gray Eagle Extended Range and the Gray Eagle 25M, and it is specifically these two the new engine targets.
At the time of writing the Extended Range uses a heavy-fuel engine that delivers 180 horsepower, and this one is in need of replacement, or so the U.S. Army believes. The new version of the powerplant, whose testing concluded in mid-May in El Mirage, California, is rated at 200 horsepower thanks in part to upgrades made to the gearbox and dual brushless generators.
The 25M, on the other hand, is meant to bring a lot more capabilities to the table than current versions of the Gray Eagle, including a five-time increase in processing power, 80 times more data storage capability, and ten times more RAM power.
While all of the above jumps in capability do not really require an engine to be achieved, it’s only natural for General Atomics to pick the newest version of the powerplant to power the drone.
That’s not in small part because the HFE 2.0, described by its maker as “the best heavy fuel engine in aviation,” should allow these Gray Eagles to operate for up to 2,500 hours (that’s more than 100 days) without needing maintenance or overhauls.
To ensure this, General Atomics conducted serious tests on the hardware, simulating an entire 2,500-hour cycle of operation with “the highest flight loads that could ever be seen in the field.”
During the runs, the engine was made to believe it performed no less than 1,250 full-power takeoffs, reached high-cruising altitude, and flew 200 hours in “worst-case generator loading conditions.”
The engine’s trials and tribulations are not over yet. Before it gets to make the Gray Eagle the drone enemies run but can’t escape from, another 150 hours of testing will be performed in September. After that, certification runs for use at the hands of the U.S. Army will take place.
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