Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Sonex Receives $235,000 Follow-On Project For UAV Heavy Fuel Engine Design

Sonex Research, a leader in the field of combustion technology, announced that it has been awarded a follow-on project worth approximately $235,000 to continue development and pre-production qualification of a heavy fuel engine (HFE) conversion process for a small, commercially available, gasoline engine to start and operate on standard military kerosene-based fuels (also referred to as "heavy fuels") for planned use in a production unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

In October 2005 Sonex entered into an agreement with an unnamed customer worth approximately $113,000 to develop a combustion system to convert this two-stroke, spark-ignited (SI) gasoline engine to heavy fuel operation based on the patented Sonex Combustion System (SCS) modified combustion chamber design and proprietary starting system for two-stroke SI engines. This Phase 2 follow-on award resulted from the successful demonstration to the customer in February 2006 of a "Proof of Concept" SCS HFE(TM) prototype operating on JP-5 heavy fuel. In Phase 2 Sonex will use its best efforts to develop, fabricate and qualify pre-production, flight ready engines.

If Phase 2 is successful, additional contemplated phases are for SCS HFE(TM) flight certification testing and production introduction. The agreement between the companies grants the customer sole use rights to the SCS HFE(TM) conversion design for this model engine, tied to a potential production supply agreement with Sonex, and return of the design rights to Sonex under certain conditions in the event the parties do not enter into a production supply agreement.

The Department of Defense (DoD) now requires engines used in UAVs and other military applications for which gasoline storage and use are undesirable, to operate on less volatile, heavy fuels to reduce the hazard associated with gasoline. In recent years, most of the Company's revenue has been derived from development and demonstration contracts issued by DoD activities or DoD contractors for SCS HFE(TM) conversion. In January 2006 Sonex announced a $272,700 contract with a large international defense contractor to develop an SCS HFE(TM) design to convert another small gasoline engine to start and operate on heavy fuels for potential use in a military UAV.

Posted by Darren at March 14, 2006 02:52 PM | More from UAV News |