Contractor will examine the feasibility of hybrid powerplants in small V/STOL air vehicles that combine internal combustion (IC) engines and pulsed power electrical augmentation machines. The IC engines will be sized to meet the average power needs of the mission while the electrical machine will need above-average peaks (such as occur during take-off and landing) and be reconfigured to supply power during periods of below average demand. The long term objective of hybrid powerplants is to permit the application of numerous, especially rotary-type IC engines to V/STOL configurations, more-or-less eliminating the need for special, higher power engine designs for such applications -at least in the small output ranges contemplated for unmanned air vehicles.
