Hydroplane has won small business innovation research (SBIR) funding from the US Army to continue development of a hydrogen fuel cell powerplant for vertical lift applications.
The receipt of a Phase 1 small business innovation research (SBIR) contract furthers development of its hydrogen fuel cell powerplant for US Army aerial vehicle electric propulsion.
“During this activity we will define performance and operational capabilities for Army use cases of our hydrogen fuel cell powerplant technology,” said Hydroplane CEO Dr Anita Sengupta. “Hydroplane offers the Army the agility and innovation mindset only a small business can deliver, allowing us to bring future forward technology rapidly through research to production.”
Hydroplane won an xTechSearch 8 Competition in May 2024 for its proposal for a lightweight hydrogen fuel cell powerplant for mobile energy storage. This Phase 1 award will allow Hydroplane to work with the US Army to outline the expected capabilities and performance and conduct a prototype demonstration.
Hydroplane has already received two SBIR contracts from the US Navy and two US Air Force Agility Prime small business technology transfer contracts. The company has also received a California Energy Commission CalTestBed voucher to conduct testing and accelerate commercialisation, and raised private funds to develop from the ground up and demonstrate a hydrogen fuel cell based electric powerplant for aircraft.
Concurrently, development is well underway on Hydroplane’s modular hydrogen fuel cell powerplant for the general aviation and AAM markets.
