Revolutionary new outboard under development

A prototype engine under development in the UK could revolutionise the outboard engine as we know it. The UK Royal Navy wants a diesel outboard that will equal or out-perform current petrol engines in a small, lightweight package.

Under the contract with Cox Powertrain, the team will develop a high-performance, lightweight diesel engine prototype to support the UK Royal Navy's marine outboard power applications on fast, rigid inflatable boats.

"The lightweight engine will meet the demanding military needs in operating conditions," said a spokesman for Cox Powertrain.

The prototype development phase of the programme will start with the first fire of the engine, scheduled to be performed at Ricardo facility this month.

Based on a supercharged, two-stroke, diesel-opposed piston architecture with Scotch Yoke crankshaft and a central injector position, the lightweight engine will meet the demanding military needs in operating conditions.

Critical to mission performance, the small package-size prototype engine will provide robustness and high reliability of operation with extreme diesel performance to meet Royal Navy's aim to reduce the use of petrol engines at sea.

Ricardo UK managing director Martin Fausset said the company would assist development of the Cox Powertrain engine in terms of engineering processes and design and development capabilities for the UK MoD.

Cox Powertrain and Ricardo have already completed the detailed design phase of the programme, with the MoD awarding a contract for the Cox Powertrain engine concept prototype development phase.

During the detail design phase, the team used Ricardo software tools to optimise and validate the engine design to a high level and also involved an intensive computer aided engineering (CAE) programme.