Photo: General Atomics
In the automotive world the name Cosworth is heavily respected. The British engineering company has been around since the late 1950s, and over the years it was responsible for making engines that went into some of history's most extraordinary cars. Including in competitions like Formula 1, where it ranks third in terms of wins, behind behemoths Mercedes-Benz and Ferrari.
But engines, be them made by such a race car-oriented company, can be used in a lot of ways and in various applications, so you should not be all that surprised to see the name Cosworth slapped on an engine that's meant to go into a military drone.
That's because Cosworth, together with defense contractor General Atomics, is responsible for the new engine that'll go into future versions of the Gray Eagle drones. In testing phase for a long time now, the powerplant managed to complete its final qualification test last week at a testing facility in El Mirage, California, taking it one step closer to operational status.
Current Gray Eagles are powered by an engine that develops 180 horsepower. That's more than enough for the drone's needs, but the unit is getting old (these things have been around for two decades now), and thus it needs to be replaced.
The new engine, officially called Heavy Fuel Engine 2.0 (HFE 2.0) is not only newer, but can also be used for far longer before needing maintenance: up to 2,500 hours (more than 100 days) before needing to head it for an overhaul. That, naturally, will make the engine significantly cheaper to operate.
Because it uses an upgraded gearbox and dual brushless generators, the HFE 2.0 is 20 hp more powerful than its predecessor, adding extra punch to the platforms it will power. Speaking of which, the hardware will first go into specific versions of the Gray Eagle drone, namely the 25M and the Extended Range.
The three-week qualification test that just ended is the culmination of 18 months of testing that subjected the engine to 2,450 full power cycles simulating high-stress conditions, as well as 50 hours of flight testing.
Up next for the engine is the U.S. Army certification process, something that is expected to be over at an unspecified time - we also don't know when the engine will actually enter active duty.
Separately, the Gray Eagle drone was in the news a lot these days, as it also managed to do something no other drone of its kind did before: during an exercise which took place off the coast of Pohang, South Korea, one of these machines flew, for the first time, from the deck of a ship (a South Korean Dokdo-class amphibious landing ship), and landed on ground, at the Pohang Navy Airfield in the same country.
That's because Cosworth, together with defense contractor General Atomics, is responsible for the new engine that'll go into future versions of the Gray Eagle drones. In testing phase for a long time now, the powerplant managed to complete its final qualification test last week at a testing facility in El Mirage, California, taking it one step closer to operational status.
Current Gray Eagles are powered by an engine that develops 180 horsepower. That's more than enough for the drone's needs, but the unit is getting old (these things have been around for two decades now), and thus it needs to be replaced.
The new engine, officially called Heavy Fuel Engine 2.0 (HFE 2.0) is not only newer, but can also be used for far longer before needing maintenance: up to 2,500 hours (more than 100 days) before needing to head it for an overhaul. That, naturally, will make the engine significantly cheaper to operate.
Because it uses an upgraded gearbox and dual brushless generators, the HFE 2.0 is 20 hp more powerful than its predecessor, adding extra punch to the platforms it will power. Speaking of which, the hardware will first go into specific versions of the Gray Eagle drone, namely the 25M and the Extended Range.
The three-week qualification test that just ended is the culmination of 18 months of testing that subjected the engine to 2,450 full power cycles simulating high-stress conditions, as well as 50 hours of flight testing.
Up next for the engine is the U.S. Army certification process, something that is expected to be over at an unspecified time - we also don't know when the engine will actually enter active duty.
Separately, the Gray Eagle drone was in the news a lot these days, as it also managed to do something no other drone of its kind did before: during an exercise which took place off the coast of Pohang, South Korea, one of these machines flew, for the first time, from the deck of a ship (a South Korean Dokdo-class amphibious landing ship), and landed on ground, at the Pohang Navy Airfield in the same country.
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