Navy
League Sea-Air-Space Exposition, National Harbor, Md. — April
7, 2014 — AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems, an operating unit of
Textron Systems, and Lycoming Engines, a division of Avco Corporation,
announced today that Lycoming’s new EL-005 multi-fuel engine has
surpassed 10,000 deployed flight hours with the Aerosonde Small Unmanned
Aircraft System (SUAS) in service of U.S. Department of Defense customers
in Afghanistan. |
“The
Lycoming EL-005 has made Aerosonde the only SUAS in its class with a
power plant designed and manufactured by a recognized industry leader
in manned aircraft engines,” said Colonel James Rector, program
manager for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Small Tactical Unmanned Air
Systems Program Office. “This engine, along with Lycoming’s
quality processes for new production and remanufacture, have yielded
significantly increased system reliability since the EL-005’s
introduction in service for our Navy Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance Services program.”
The Lycoming EL-005 is a single-cylinder, air-cooled, direct-injected,
spark-ignited multi-fuel engine. The five cubic inch displacement engine
features electronic controls and optimization to run jet fuel.
“In taking on the prime position for engine design and production
on the Aerosonde SUAS, Lycoming not only brought the product into our
established aviation engine production processes, we enhanced the product
in several areas,” says Lycoming Senior Vice President and General
Manager Michael Kraft. “The Lycoming EL-005 has brought even greater
reliability and maturity to the Aerosonde SUAS. While this is certainly
the smallest engine Lycoming has ever produced, the EL-005 leverages
Lycoming’s proven manned aviation propulsion expertise.”
The Aerosonde SUAS continues to amass thousands of flight hours in theater
each month in support of Department of Defense customers’ long-endurance
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Since its initial
deployment overseas, the Aerosonde SUAS has amassed more than 60,000
flight hours in some of the world’s harshest environments.
“The Lycoming EL-005 engine has enhanced our system with benchmark-setting
reliability levels in challenging flight conditions, including extreme
heat and cold,” says AAI Unmanned Aircraft Systems Vice President
of Small/Medium Unmanned Aircraft Systems David Phillips. “Its
durability has doubled the amount of time between engine overhauls,
a distinct advantage considering the high operational tempo we are maintaining
for our customers. Combined with our established multi-mission capability,
encompassing electro-optical, signals intelligence and communications
relay within a single aircraft, our Aerosonde system sets the standard
for SUAS capability.” |
