PT50 Turboshaft Engine

The PT50 turboshaft engine was developed as a component of DARPA’s OAV-II VTOL program in answer to the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems Class II need.  The program was cancelled by the government and did not result in a production engine variant.  The information on this page is historical in nature and is posted to showcase development capabilities only.

PT50 had amassed nearly one-thousand starts and over 400 hours in operational testing. The free power turbine design entailed three primary sections: a gasifier core, an accessory section and a power module.

The gasifier core contained a radial flow compressor stage, a reverse flow annular combustor and an axial flow turbine stage. Six high pressure atomization nozzles allowed for routine starting and operation on heavy fuels.

The power module included an axial flow free turbine and a high speed gearbox with a 19.6:1 reduction ratio.

Click Image below to View PT50 In-vehicle, Wireless, Electric Start Video

The accessory gearbox entailed an engine driven fuel pump, oil pump, two scavenge pumps and an engine driven starter/generator; enabling autonomous electric starting throughout an extreme ambient temperature range.