UAS flies with heavy fuel

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VIENNA, March 14 (UPI) -- Schiebel of Austria has announced the first flight of its heavy-fuel powered Camcopter S-100 Unmanned Aerial System.

The flight took place at a facility near the company's production facility in Wiener Neustadt and validated operational expectations of the company designed engine, which can use JP-5, Jet A-1 and JP-8 fuel.

"The new heavy fuel engine is fully interchangeable with the current engine and upgrade is possible by just replacing the core engine with some accessories of similar specifications and flight performance," the company said.

"In offering lower logistic effort and supporting the single-fuel concept that requires using only one fuel while deployed, this new engine is ideal for maritime applications."

"We listen to our customers and then we build the features they ask for," said Hans Georg Schiebel, chairman of the Schiebel Group. "The new fuel options will be a big advantage to all our customers worldwide across all markets, offering them even more flexibility."

The Camcopter S-100's basic power plant is a rotary piston engine that runs on 100 octane-grade avgas, which is rated at 50 HP. Recent engineering developments have led to the gasoline version of the engine being certified to operate on 95 octane lead-free gasoline without loss of power, the company said.