Hydroplane shows full flight speed during fuel cell powered rotor tests

Hydroplane has demonstrated full rotor flight speed on its hydrogen fuel cell powered rotor transmission test stand.

The testing is part of Hydroplane’s XTech8 Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with the US Army. Awarded last fall, the contract calls for both outlining the expected capabilities and performance of the hydrogen fuel cell powerplant for a range of army use cases and conducting a prototype demonstration for vertical lift.

“This phase of the program was focused on validating both the performance and mission relevance of our lightweight hydrogen fuel cell powerplant for vertical lift and extended-range UAV/UAS operations,” said Dr. Anita Sengupta, CEO of Hydroplane. “Since the contract award last November, we’ve developed and tested a full-scale rotary wing testbed, integrating our electric-propulsion system with a rotor transmission and 23-foot rotor to achieve stable operation at flight-representative rotor speeds.”

Hydroplane’s modular hydrogen fuel cell powerplant is engineered to replace internal combustion engines in certified, experimental and next-generation aircraft, as well as auxiliary power units.

In addition to its current work with the US Army, Hydroplane was named a winner of the 2024 xTechSearch 8 competition for its mobile hydrogen-based energy storage concept. The company has also successfully completed prior SBIR contracts with the US Navy and two with the US Air Force under the Agility Prime initiative.

Sengupta will present Hydroplane’s vertical lift developments during two technical talks at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2025 next week.