China has tested a 3D-printed turbojet engine in flight for the first time, a development that could support the country’s growing fleet of high-speed, low-cost and quick-to-produce military drones.
During the 30-minute flight on Sunday, the engine took a small, missile-shaped target drone to an altitude of 6km (3.8 miles) and a top speed of around 925km/h, about three quarters the speed of sound, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday.
It said the engine operated normally throughout the mission, with no abnormalities in any of its parameters.
The engine – built entirely from 3D-printed rotor components and with more than 75 per cent of its total weight made from printed parts – produced about 160kg (350 pounds) of thrust and served as the drone’s sole source of propulsion during the test.
The aircraft was launched from a ground rail and recovered by parachute. CCTV did not disclose where the trial took place or the engine’s overall mass.
Mi Dong, from the institute that developed the engine under the state-owned Aero Engine Corporation of China, said the flight showed the system could operate reliably at higher altitudes and in more complex conditions, and that it was well matched to the aircraft using it.
It can “provide a new power option for platforms such as loitering munitions, unmanned aircraft and target drones, and has promising application prospects”, he told CCTV.
