Drones

Jet-powered VTOL drone is like a quadcopter on steroids

Jet-powered VTOL drone is like a quadcopter on steroids
The current AB5 JetQuad prototype has a claimed top speed of 250 mph (402 km/h)
The current AB5 JetQuad prototype has a claimed top speed of 250 mph (402 km/h)
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The AB5 has a theoretical altitude limit of over 30,000 ft (9,144 m)
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The AB5 has a theoretical altitude limit of over 30,000 ft (9,144 m)
The AB5 JetQuad measures 4 ft L X 4 ft W X 2 ft H (1.2 by 1.2 by 0.6 m)
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The AB5 JetQuad measures 4 ft L X 4 ft W X 2 ft H (1.2 by 1.2 by 0.6 m)
The current AB5 JetQuad prototype has a claimed top speed of 250 mph (402 km/h)
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The current AB5 JetQuad prototype has a claimed top speed of 250 mph (402 km/h)
View gallery - 3 images

While propeller planes certainly do have their place, sometimes the extra speed and thrust of a jet engine is what's really needed. Dallas, Texas-based FusionFlight has applied that sort of thinking to quadcopter-style drones, resulting in the AB5 JetQuad.

According to the company, the AB5 is "the world’s smallest and most powerful jet-powered drone with vertical take-off and landing [VTOL] capabilities."

Instead of the usual four electric motors and propellers, the current prototype has four diesel-powered microturbine jet engines which produce a combined 200 horsepower (149 kW) at full throttle. Thanks to a proprietary vectoring system known as the H-Configuration, the thrust from these engines can be directed either to move the drone vertically when taking off and landing, or horizontally while in flight.

The AB5 JetQuad measures 4 ft L X 4 ft W X 2 ft H (1.2 by 1.2 by 0.6 m)
The AB5 JetQuad measures 4 ft L X 4 ft W X 2 ft H (1.2 by 1.2 by 0.6 m)

The production version of the aircraft will reportedly have a top speed of over 300 mph (483 km/h), with one fill of its 5-gallon (19-L) fuel tank being good for 30 minutes of hovering or 15 minutes of cruising. Down the road, the addition of components such as afterburners could boost its speed considerably.

It will carry a maximum payload of 40 lb (18 kg), with cargo being either attached to the drone itself or dangled on a line underneath – the company states that the cargo won't be blasted by the engines in the latter configuration, as the thrust is never vectored straight below the AB5. The drone itself weighs a claimed 50 lb (23 kg), with a full tank of fuel adding another 40 lb.

The AB5 has a theoretical altitude limit of over 30,000 ft (9,144 m)
The AB5 has a theoretical altitude limit of over 30,000 ft (9,144 m)

FusionFlight CEO Alexander Taits tells us that the AB5 may be on the market by 2021, priced somewhere between US$200,000 and $250,000 depending on the model. Potential buyers are likely to be putting a premium on speed and power.

"The jet engines can put out significantly more power then electrically-driven propellers and also allow the vehicle to travel at much higher speeds," says Taits. "Diesel fuel, on a pound-for-pound basis, stores 40 times more energy then any lithium-type battery and also will take minutes to refuel instead of the hours it takes to recharge an electrical drone."

You can see the prototype taking off and hovering, in the following video.

Source: FusionFlight

jetquad-db5

View gallery - 3 images
23 comments
23 comments
riczero-b
Have you transposed the hover/ cruise times? Usually the former would eat more fuel. Also stub or folding wings would increase flight time.
Tom Lee Mullins
I think that is really cool. Perhaps the price will come down with development and competition? Could it be scaled up to carry one or two people? I think that would make for a cool VTOL aircraft.
Keith Benicek
How about comparing the COST of a Brushless motor prop powered Quad and the Jet turbine?? I fly quads as a photographer and I also fly electric, nitro engines and jet turbine fixed wing RC aircraft. A SINGLE turbine engine will cost anywhere from USD $1,200 for a small turbine to $6,000 for a 100 lbs aircraft! A 600 class commercial Photo Brushless Quad has maybe $300 in brushless motors! Another $200 in ESC's (⁴) ..... quite adifference, huh?
Xabier Eizaguirre
Small Jet engines arent new, they're expensive, noisy and extremely dangerous.

But someone could pay thousands of dollars to buy it, the real problen comes when you have to do fast maneveurs, jet turbine engines have a very slow response time comparrd with brushless engines. For example when fast winds hit the quad unexpectedly the slow response time of the jet engines could make the quad flip, and becouse of you cant turn that turbines of like electric engines the quad will become a powered jet engine bomb aproacin at very high speed to the ground
buzzclick
Here again we're shown this jet quad only hovering to smooth music. I wanna see the damn thing flying about and hear the racket.
paul314
Hmm. nap-of-earth maneuverability at 300 mph, range of a couple dozen miles (that 15 minutes is at cruise) and a 40-pound payload. Oh, and a noise footprint comparable to a top fuel dragster. When do you really need something delivered that fast to somewhere this device could go? (My immediate thought, alas, is that a device like this would make an almost ideal post-apocalytpic assassination tool. )
Bob Stuart
Jets are inefficient until high-subsonic speeds. I'd have gone with diesel-electric for hover, with a mechanical clutch for cruise.
MAESTRO
Rizcero- great point; the usage of wings would greatly enhance economy.

Xabier Eizaguirre; I'm pretty sure it primarily employs servo driven vectoring to make corrections. IE full size VTOL jet craft use vectoring alone to achieve balancing with a single jet engine. This is all actually pretty easy to make for a dedicated RC hobbyist and has been for decades with the advent of piezo electric gyroscopes that can make corrections within microseconds, it's simply due to cost reductions resulting from economies of scale that have made the technology much cheaper and accessible today.
Username
Re-filling the tank will take longer than swapping a battery pack. If you brought diesel to refill than you bring spare charged battery packs.
Paul Muad'Dib
I wonder how many they will sell?
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