GE Aerospace and Kratos have teamed up to deliver a new turbofan engine to power a novel generation of small, uncrewed military aircraft.
The propulsion supplier and manufacturer of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) announced the initiative on 22 July at the Farnborough air show, with executives from both companies signing a joint development agreement.
Unlike the current line of GE Aerospace engines, which are designed for maximal aerodynamic performance for manned aircraft, the new offering will be a smaller, low-cost option with a much shorter lifespan.
The change in tack is driven by surging interest in cheap, autonomous jets amongst military operators.
“Our customers have been very clear they need the low cost,” says Amy Gowder, chief executive GE Aerospace Defense & Systems. “They don’t require the same level of multiple cycles, the reliability, some of the durability, maintenance, repair and overhaul that many of the manned applications for engines have required to date.”
The US Air Force (USAF) in particular has made such low-cost jets a key pillar of its future air power strategy. Known as collaborative combat aircraft (CCAs) within the Pentagon, the concept aims to rapidly produce large numbers of uncrewed combat jets, which can supplement a smaller number of increasingly expensive manned fighters.
Kratos was an early leader in the development of such vehicles. Both the USAF and US Marine Corps obtained the XQ-58 Valkyrie for testing. However, the company was passed over for the first round of CCA contracts awarded earlier this year.
The service plans to launch a second increment of CCA development in the future.
The new partnership with GE Aerospace appears to be part of a strategy that could see Kratos initially enter the CCA market as propulsion supplier and not solely as an aircraft manufacturer.
“This is undoubtedly going to help us bring our joint engines to market,” says Eric DeMarco, chief executive of Kratos. “This class of turbofans is right in the middle of the fairway for drones, missiles, certain loitering munitions [and] affordable mass.”
Kratos estimates a total addressable market of “several thousand” for such a class of engine. DeMarco notes Kratos has been exploring the concept for several years and has been in serious discussions with GE Aerospace for over a year.
“We needed a big partner,” he says. “These are things we just cannot do practically on our own in the time period to be first to market and to win.”
Gowder notes the unnamed powerplant will not be proprietary to Kratos platforms, but will be offered to the broader market.
“We are going to be a merchant supplier,” she says. “There are multiple customers and platforms interested in talking to us.”
The new engine will tentatively be marketed as the GEK 800, referencing the current target for thrust output.
“Right now, it’s efficient from 800lbs up to 3,000lbs,” says DeMarco. He adds the new product will be part of a “family of engines” rather than a single, one-size-fits-all solution.
The powerplant will likely boast a lifespan in the hundreds of cycles, Gowder notes, compared to current GE Aerospace engines which are designed for a far more robust capacity of 2,000 to 10,000 cycles.
The Pentagon is still exploring exactly what capability it wants from CCAs, which Gowder says will determine final engine specifications.
“As requirements continue to become more and more clear, we’ll narrow in on exactly what that is,” she says.
What is known already, Gowder adds, is that the final design could power either a one-way or low-cycle reusable vehicle without the “big tail of MRO” associated with traditional engines and crewed aircraft.
