PERTH, Australia, May 25 (UPI) -- The Aerosonde small unmanned aerial system is to be powered by efficient heavy fuel engines from Orbital Corp. of Australia.
Orbital, a provider of engine and vehicle technologies and alternative fuel solutions, said the contract from AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems is worth about $4.7 million
The engines, to be used on the latest configuration of the Aerosonde, use the Orbital's FlexDI Engine Management system to enable spark ignition operation of heavy fuels such as JP5 and JP8. Use of those fuels meets U.S. Navy requirements to eliminate gasoline fuels.
The U.S. Navy and Special Operations Command recently contracted AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems -- a U.S. company and subsidiary of Textron Systems -- to provide SUAS fee-for-service operations using the Aerosonde.
Read the full story at UPI