First flight approaches for ‘disruptive’ new UAV engine

An earlier iteration of UAS' Nightwind 2 in flight, powered by an off-the-shelf industrial engine. The aircraft has extremely low radar and thermal signatures, and its carbon-composite structure is designed to sustain catapult launches.

ANY NEW PROPULSION SYSTEM CAPABLE OF DOUBLING AN AIRCRAFT'S EFFECTIVE ALTITUDE, increasing its dwell time by many hours, and significantly boosting its capability to run silently in “stealth” mode must be special indeed. That's the view of Sanford “Sandy” Mangold, as he talks about the upcoming first flight of the Wolverine 3 engine.

“The U.S. Air Force considers this engine to be ‘disruptive technology’ because it's the first purpose-built heavy fuel engine for UAVs,” said Mangold, President and CEO of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), a Las Vegas-based developer of tactical UAVs. He said the Wolverine obviously is attractive to military customers who are transitioning to JP-8 fuel exclusively.