Cubewano powers ahead with US defence contract

AN ADVANCED manufacturing firm in Birmingham is set for growth after tapping into the lucrative US defence market.

Cubewano has developed the world’s lightest yet most powerful engine to run on heavy fuel and the machine is being trialled for use in the next generation of US Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) or drones as they are sometimes called.

The engine, manufactured at Cubewano’s factory in Sutton Coldfield, utilises ultra-lightweight materials such as ceramics, titanium and carbon fibre as well as specialist experimental steels from Germany.

The award-winning firm has spent the last two years designing the engine for the US Army and it recently completed a successful first test flight in Albuquerque.
 
Craig Fletcher, founder and chief executive of Cubewano, said: “Another supplier was originally building the engine but the turbine suffered catastrophic failure so we were brought in to design, test and deliver a brand new engine with very aggressive weight targets – all in less than two years.
 
“Our brief was to develop an engine with a core weight of less than 1lb per horsepower, which was previously thought impossible. Through extreme optimisation of components and carefully selecting the latest high tech materials, we were able to achieve this ambitious goal.”
 
To support the test flights, the firm dispatched a team of six engineers to the test facility in New Mexico to oversee the installation of the finished engine into the UAV, which has been developed by principal contractor Honeywell.

“The UAV market is predicted to grow to be worth nearly $8bn by 2020 based on worldwide military sales alone, so it is a lucrative market for us to be in and we’re already pursuing new defence contracts based on the success of this test project,” said Mr Fletcher.
 
“But being so small and powerful, the engine also has many non-military applications as well. We’re currently modifying it for use as a range extender in electric vehicles and developing a prototype of an ultra-lightweight portable generator that can be carried by just one person.”