Flight International – 6 August 2019

28 | Flight International | 6-12 August 2019 flightglobal.com

MILITARY ENGINES

As new funding from the US Air Force for developing small

turbines converges with technological advances, nine firms

are working to meet a need for low-cost weapons and UAVs

When size is

everything

K

ratos Defense & Security Solutions

believes there is a big future in small

things – in particular, small jet tur-

bine engines.

The target drone manufacturer, which is

also developing a fleet of tactical unmanned

air vehicles (UAVs), put $60 million behind

that belief in February 2019 when it bought a

controlling stake in Florida Turbine Technolo-

gies, a manufacturer of small turbofan and

turbojet engines that has since been renamed

Kratos Turbine Technologies.

Explaining the acquisition, Kratos chief

executive Eric DeMarco said at the time:

“The projected market for advanced turbojet

and turbofan engines in our class alone is

easily in the many thousands over the next

five years, given the projected number of ex-

tended-range and low-cost cruise missile

systems, and next-generation unmanned

weapons systems to be acquired.”

Kratos is taking its cues from a US Air Force

(USAF) vision of developing a fleet of low-cost

missiles and attritable UAVs that can over-

whelm, evade or outdistance sophisticated and

far-reaching Chinese and Russian air defence

systems. These include, for instance, UAVs

such as the XQ-58A Valkyrie loyal wingman

demonstrator, developed by the US Air Force

Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Kratos.

“We want to complicate their surveillance

and targeting problem so we can survive and

so that we can penetrate through their air de-

fences,” says Thomas Karako, director of the

Missile Defense Project at the Center for Stra-

tegic and International Studies. “It’s present-

ing them such a complex problem that their

command and control, their sensors and their

effectors are going to be overwhelmed.”

Indeed, to complicate adversaries’ air de-

fence problems, the USAF wants a wide vari-

ety of tactical UAVs and cruise missiles. That

means various engines with combinations of

greater thrust, better fuel economy, more reli-

ability, reduced maintenance needs and

lower overall cost.

To that end, USAF funding has come

around at the right time, says Joe Brostmeyer,

senior vice-president of Kratos Turbine

Technologies. “What limits innovation is

funding, and often your manufacturing and

materials technology,” he says. “So, if you

have the funding you have a chance to take

advantage of the latest manufacturing and

materials technologies. That enables new

designs which can multiply the effects of

those other things.”

Funds from the USAF, combined with

emerging manufacturing technologies such as

3D printing, are enabling improved perfor-

mance from small jet turbines – in some cases

for the first time in decades, he says.

Between fiscal year 2018 and FY2026, the

AFRL plans to invest up to $725 million in jet

turbine research and development, through

GARRETT REIM LOS ANGELES

US Air Force

XQ-58A Valkyrie loyal wingman demonstrator is a joint

effort by Kratos Turbine Technologies and the AFRL

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