Pentagon funds $13.6M project to make drones twice as fuel-efficient

[rangerrebew]

Pentagon funds $13.6M project to make drones twice as fuel-efficient
 
By
Colton Jones
Sep 27, 2025
Modified date: Sep 27, 2025
 
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Minco Technologies of Cookeville, Tennessee, a contract valued at up to $13.6 million to develop a next-generation unmanned aircraft engine designed to dramatically reduce fuel consumption and improve operational flexibility.

The project aims to create a modular, fuel-flexible propulsion system that could cut the logistical fuel supply chain by as much as 50 percent — a potentially transformative capability for future drone operations.

According to the Department of War, the contract will fund the “Modular Operationally Resilient Fuel-Flexible Extreme-Efficiency UAS-Engine System,” a technology development and demonstration program focused on advancing powerplant efficiency and adaptability for unmanned aerial systems (UAS).
 

Work will be conducted in Cookeville, Tennessee, with an expected completion date of August 30, 2028.

https://defence-blog.com/pentagon-funds-13-6m-project-to-make-drones-twice-as-fuel-efficient/

[Smokin Joe]

That's nice and all that, but I think the Pentagon needs to wake up and concentrate their efforts along the lines of what the Ukrainians are doing. Relatively inexpensive 'suicide' platforms over there have wreaked havoc on much more expensive weapons, from tanks and APCs to the Black Sea flagship, and rained hell on individual and small units of troops.
That is the way of the new battlefield.