Northwest UAV has announced that it has increased production of its NW-44 multi-fuel single-cylinder UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) engine, in order to fulfill increased demand including a purchase order by a major OEM. The engine, which currently has over 1000 combat flight hours logged, was designed to fill a gap in the market for reliable, fuel-efficient engines for small, professional-grade UAVs.
“Our NW-44 engine has been designed and developed to solve a very specific problem – reliably support UAVs in the 40-75-pound weight class attempting to fly 12 hours or more in extreme weather conditions. Without the NW-44 engine, these small UAVs were either flying fingers-crossed with hobby-grade engines with carburetors, or heavily modifying engines built for other applications to try to meet their flight needs. Neither of these options guarantee a reliable engine and the latter option can be extremely expensive to design, develop and manufacture. Considering that many of the professional UAVs in the 40-75-pound weight class are used for defense and supporting police, fire and law enforcement bureaus, a cost effective, reliable, efficient engine solution is absolutely paramount to the work they’re doing,” explained Chris Harris, President and Owner of NWUAV. “With the NW-44 multi-fuel engine, these smaller UAVs now have a plug-and-play option built specifically for the long flight hours and extreme conditions they’re flying in. This recent increased adoption of the NW-44 engine across Tier 2 UAVs simply demonstrates the real need for this engine in the professional UAS (unmanned aerial systems) market.”
The increased demand for the NW-44 engine, in addition to other large projects in the works, has meant that Northwest UAV has grown to over 100 full- time employees and has begun the process of adding new production facilities to their campus, expanding on the 28,000 square feet of building space they already have.
“We are adding another 30,000 sq. feet to our campus and hiring additional staff to fill roles in all areas of the company, from the production floor to engineering services and everywhere in between. Much of that growth is in support of the manufacturing of the NW-44 propulsion system that we designed right here in McMinnville, and the continued development of our twin cylinder NW-88,” commented Northwest UAV Director Heather Sorenson.
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