Orbital in $2m Singapore contract

Drone engine manufacturer Orbital Corporation has inked a continuation contract with a Singapore customer for the design and development of a new engine for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

The contract will take an existing design, development, verification and validation contract through to its completion.

Orbital CEO Todd Adler said the contract was another positive milestone in the development of the new engine.

Adler said: “Engineering work continues to progress as planned, moving us towards initial production later this year.

“The multi-fuel UAV engine incorporates Orbital IUAV’s patented heavy fuel technology and will provide best in class performance to our customer.”

Adler said that Orbital’s heavy fuel injection technology had achieved hundreds of thousands of flight hours for multiple customers, making the company the leader in UAV engine systems.

“Heavy fuel engine capability remains critical to the successful deployment of systems operating within the UAS space.

“We continue to see that requirement grow and our engine development programme with our Singapore customer is a perfect example of this global demand.”

Manufacture of the new engine is planned to begin in the first half FY24 at Orbital’s Perth factory which already manufactures two engine models for Boeing offshoot Insitu UAVs (pictured).

Adler said: “Orbital UAV has the capability and capacity to supply the world’s largest UAV manufacturers.

“The addition of our Singapore customer’s engine model to our existing production lines will continue to build our global reputation.”

Orbital has not revealed the identity of the Singapore customer.

Image: Orbital Corporation/Insitu Scaneagle3 UAV