FusionFlight, a company based in Dallas, Texas, knows that sometimes the extra speed and thrust of a jet engine are necessary and so it designed a special quadcopter-style jet engine drone called the AB5 JetQuad. The company says it’s the most powerful jet-powered drone of its size with vertical take-off and landing [VTOL] capabilities.
The current prototype has four diesel-powered microturbine jet engines in place of the usual four electric motors and propellers. The jet engines combined can produce 200 horsepower (149 kW) at full throttle. The thrust from these engines can be directed to move the drone horizontally while in flight, or vertically when taking off and landing. Its flying capabilities are all thanks to a proprietary vectoring system known as the H-Configuration.
The plan is to have the production version of the aircraft reaching a top speed of more than 300 mph (483 km/h). It will have a flight duration time of 30 minutes in hover mode or 15 minutes cruising with a full tank of fuel. The tank can hold up to 5-gallon (19-L) of diesel. Eventually, with add-on’s like afterburners, the aircraft should be able to fly even (a lot) faster.
The drone is intended to be a cargo vehicle. The cargo can either be dangled on a line underneath or attached to the drone itself. In either configuration, the load won’t be blasted by the engines because the thrust is never vectored straight below or above the AB5. The maximum payload it can transport is 40 lb (18 kg).
The drone is rather light weighing in at only 50 lb (23 kg) without fuel or cargo. With a full tank of fuel, it’ll weight an additional 40 lb (18 kg).
Alexander Taits, FusionFlight’s CEO, said:
The jet engines can put out significantly more power then electrically-driven propellers and also allow the vehicle to travel at much higher speeds. Diesel fuel, on a pound-for-pound basis, stores 40 times more energy than any lithium-type battery and also will take minutes to refuel instead of the hours it takes to recharge an electrical drone.
Taits hopes to have the AB5 on the market by 2021. The cost of one will be in the price range of US$200,000 and $250,000 depending on the model.
