CSIR developing UAV gas turbine engine

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is currently developing gas turbine engines for UAVs. The comapny began working on the project since 2016 and is close to conducting the first compressor test around March 2019.

The gas turbine engine would produce 100 kg thrust optimized for stand-off weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and gliders. The CSIR compressor design is highly scalable, and can be converted to larger bypass engine architectures.

The UAV gas turbine enginne is 250 mm in diameter and some 500 mm in length. Its maximum thrust will be around 110 kg and maximum RPM 60 000. Fuel consumption at idle will be .384 kg/minute and at max thrust 1.536 kg/minute.

To test the engine’s compressor capacity, CSIR is currently completing a test facility