Evendale (Ohio): GE Aerospace and Kratos are kicking off development of a new engine to power “lower end” designs of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone wingmen, the two companies revealed, expanding their existing partnership for producing a family of more affordable engines.
The new engine, dubbed the GEK1500, offers 1,500 pounds of thrust, and a prototype is expected to be demonstrated in 2026, GE and Kratos officials told reporters here during a visit to GE’s facilities. The engine scales up the architecture of an 800 pound thrust design unveiled by the two companies last year at the Farnborough air show.
According to GE Aerospace Edison Works Vice President and General Manager Steve Russell, the GEK1500 is aimed at the “lower end of the CCA market.” Whereas the GEK800 is an expendable engine meant to power platforms like cruise missiles, GE and Kratos modified the GEK1500 to include changes to materials, cooling and other features, but will still be in line with the Air Force’s expectations that CCA drones have limited lifespans and minimal maintenance, explained Craig Young, GE’s executive engineering director for hypersonic propulsion and small UAV engines.
“The key thing here, though, is the architecture for these small engines typically has been very cheap and straightforward, because they’ve been turbojets, and the turbojets just don’t give us the fuel burn and the efficiencies we need for the extended range in today’s fight,” Young said.
As a result, the GE-Kratos team-up “fit[s] a turbofan in a turbojet-size envelope” that enables the engine to remain affordable while offering better performance than comparable turbojets.
The Air Force has previously stated interest in a range between 3,000 to 8,000 pounds of thrust for CCA wingmen. However, a top Air Force official recently predicted that future CCA may in fact come broadly in at the “low end,” capability wise.
GE and Kratos also anticipate the service and others like the Navy and Marine Corps will “look at a range of sizes of aircraft,” said Mark Rettig, vice president and general manager of advanced programs at GE’s Edison Works.
