Austria’s Schiebel has completed acceptance tests of the Camcopter S-100 VTOL UAV’s (vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle’s) new S2 heavy fuel engine (HFE) for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the company announced on 9 March.
“A comprehensive series of test flight activities demonstrated both the endurance, and maximum take-off weight [MTOW] – with multiple payloads – providing the evidence and assurance that the Camcopter S-100 fulfils the requirements of the RAN,” Schiebel said in a statement.
Schiebel has successfully completed acceptance tests of the new S2 heavy fuel engine that is now powering two Camcopter S-100 UAVs being trialled by the Royal Australian Navy. (Schiebel)
The company noted in its announcement that the S2 HFE is a lightweight replacement for the current petrol engine and is presently approved for use with JP-5 (F-44) and Jet-A1 kerosene fuels. The company anticipates that other fuel types will be approved in the future.
It also stated that the S2 engine, will “enable the RAN to continue to expand their test and evaluation programme, examining advanced vertical take-off and landing UAS capabilities” ahead of the Australian Department of Defence’s (DoD’s) Project SEA 129 Phase 5 programme, which aims to equip the RAN’s future Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) and Hunter-class frigates with embarked UAV capabilities.
Jane’s earlier reported in April 2019 that two S-100s equipped with modified HFE-variants of its twin-rotor Rotron 600 rotary engine were initially supplied to meet the RAN’s requirement for JP-5 fuel compatibility, although a company official noted that the UAVs’ flight endurance was limited to about five hours with a 20 kg payload during trials in 2018, failing to meet the service’s six-hour endurance requirement with the same payload weight.
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