An Air Force Research Laboratory partnership with UES, Inc. and Microlink Devices, Inc., has integrated new lightweight, flexible, high-efficiency solar panels onto a small unmanned aircraft system (SUAS) platform. Continue reading
Category Archives: Aircraft Propulsion & Energy
LiquidPiston 40-BHP Rotary Engine Delivers 75% Thermal Efficiency
The internal combustion engine (ICE) has had a remarkably successful century and a half. Unfortunately, it’s notoriously inefficient, wasting anywhere from 30 to 99 percent of the energy it produces and spewing unburned fuel into the air. Continue reading
U.S. Army To Look At Creating a “Super Engine”
Studies are underway at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, or ARL, to create a ‘super engine’ that could allow military ground vehicles, stationary power generators, and small unmanned aircraft, for example, to operate with the same kind of fuel. Continue reading
Israeli Air Force Fits Quieter Engines Hermes 450 fleet
An effort is being made to decrease the noise emitted by engines used by the Israeli air force’s unmanned aircraft systems. The need stems from the heavier payloads carried by the aircraft, which demand using their engines in high power mode. Continue reading
New Energy Carbon Fibre UAS Manufactured in Shenyang
Early this month, Liaoning General Aviation Academy displayed China’s first carbon material fuel cell powered UAS “LEINIAO”. Continue reading
Ascent Solar Technologies Powers Silent Falcon
Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (ASTI), a developer of state-of-the-art, flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules, announced that it is collaborating with Silent Falcon UAS Technologies and Bye Aerospace to provide its lightweight, flexible copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) photovoltaics to power the Silent Falcon unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Continue reading
Supersonic Flying Wing Gets $100K NASA Development Funding
An aircraft that resembles a four-point ninja star could go into supersonic mode by simply turning 90 degrees in midair. The unusual “flying wing” concept has won $100,000 in NASA funding to trying becoming a reality for future passenger jet travel. Continue reading
First Flight of Fuel Cell Powered UAS in China
A fuel cell powered UAS made its first flight on July 30 at Faku airfield of Liaoning province. It is the first time that mainland China flight-tests a fuel cell powered UAS. Continue reading