I chance upon a video produced in Ukraine by a man who does engines and his wife who speaks English, who together get to tear down the engine from a Shahed 136, notorious in its use both there and in the Gulf; to the extent it has been reproduced by the US on the basis that 'If you can't beat them...'.
Perhaps not surprisingly given the performance of their engines in WW2, the engine is a Limbach 550 produced in Germany, but with parts like bearings originating in places as far away as South Korea and Japan. A truly international effort, parts that adapt it to fitment in the drone are sourced from China, India and even Europe.
The vloggers point out that these parts vary greatly in quality, and assembled in a way that suggests whoever does so has little or no knowledge of how the engines work.
The wooden propeller is around two feet in diameter to suit the RPM of the motor, which is set to the maximum of around 7,500 rpm. An electrical generator is fitted, although as the ignition is self-sustaining by use of a magneto, this is presumably to keep those batteries powering the electronic components responsible for navigation and target acquisition.
Limbach themselves do not advertise a price, but other websites do so for drones in particular and charge between $17,500 and $20,000. The manufacturer is reticent and advertise the two-stroke engines for sport, recreational and experimental use... adding the following rider:
If you would like to implement projects in the fields of aerial observation, surveying, aerial photography, telecommunications or environmental protection, simply contact us – we can present interesting solutions jointly with you and our partners.
Whether or not agents in either Iran or Russia contacted them to say "We're minded to use your engines to take out random targets at a distance and would very much like to work together on a solution to our mutual satisfaction. Needing thousands."
The engine in the video has its serial number milled out to conceal its origin, though increasingly it would appear the units ~ given numbers required and PR fallout for its manufacturer ~ are now reproduced in home-grown versions to an altogether lower standard, as might be expected in the circs.
They are in all fairness only expected to last an hour at most, and I doubt anyone is returning the goods with the original packaging should they fall short of this (or any other) target?
