Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Beehive Industries^®, an American manufacturing company was awarded a $12.46 million contract to collaborate on the development and production of low-cost Small Expendable Turbine (SET) engines with the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) and the Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

This comes on the heels of the company’s grand opening of a new Knoxville location in May of this year.

The contract is to develop a 200 lb. thrust class engine using additive manufacturing methods. The funding covers the cost of manufacturing, testing, and demonstrating the scalability of this technology.

Through the contract, Beehive is tasked with manufacturing 30 engines in 24 months, with much of the work being done in the Knoxville facility.

During the ribbon cutting in May, Beehive announced the successful test completion of its 500 lb. thrust engine. It is a part of their efforts to establish a line of engines ranging from 100–5,000 lbs. of thrust for a variety of applications including drones, standoff systems, and Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

This contract will enable Beehive to build on that success and apply its additively enabled design and manufacturing processes directly in support of the need for capable, affordable, and readily available propulsion systems.

“Beehive is excited to have this opportunity to bring its capabilities to bear on the affordable mass challenge for the US military in collaboration with the University of Dayton Research Institute,” said Gordie Follin, Chief Product Officer for the company. “Our state-of-the-art additive manufacturing approach opens up new possibilities to radically alter the traditional relationships between cost, performance, and scalability while delivering high-performance engines purpose-built for their applications.”

Read more from Beehive Industries.

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