Paragrine Systems has identified a propulsion solution that will reduce the acoustic signature of powered parafoils by more than 50% while also reducing thermal signatures by more than 90% while substantially lowering radar signatures as well. This innovation, called the Fluidic Propulsion System (FPS), has been developed by Jetoptera, Inc. FPS has no external moving parts such as propellers or fans. Instead it produces thrust through application of the Conada effect by introducing high-velocity air around the perimeter of an ejector or thruster ring. The high-velocity air entrains and accelerates surrounding, ambient air at a ratio of up to 10:1 to create a column of high-mass flow with thrust augmentation of up to 5.5 times the initial input energy. FPS has been matured over hundreds of hours of bench, wind tunnel, and flight hours on UAV platforms and is the result of more than five years of development and $5 million of investment. Jetopteras technical team is led by Andrei Evulet PhD, who has over 25 years of working with advanced propulsion systems including 15 years at GE Aviation. When FPS is adapted to use with powered parafoils the resulting device is called PP-FPS and has a number of distinct advantages. PP-FPS can be configured to be compatible with existing JPADS and airdrop pallet systems, has no external moving parts that can be damaged on landing, and is mechanically simple and therefor highly reliable. It is also the most weight efficient propulsion system available for missions of less than 350 miles. Because of its highly compact form factor, lack of a propeller, and the ability to introduce engine exhaust gasses into the entrained airflows, PP-FPS can be enhanced to present very low acoustic, thermal and radar signatures. PP-FPS is also scalable up to 5000 pounds of thrust and can be easily adapted for operation on a number of payload and vehicle configurations. In addition to working with Jetoptera to design and integrate the PP-FPS, Paragrine will also be maturing several more conventional approaches to signature reduction in an approach called the Signature-Optimized Conventional Option (SOCO). In this approach a multi-bladed ducted propeller is driven by an reciprocating engine with turbocharging and Energy Recovery Turbo (ERT) technologies. Together these elements will be packaged into a JPADS compatible propulsion system that will exceed a 25% reduction in acoustic signature compared to COTS systems. Both FPS and COTS paramotor engines will be tested to gain baseline acoustic and thermal information and this will be used to further develop the PP-FPS and SOCO configurations with attention focused on making low-signature designs that are also reliable, robust, and cost effective.
