JetCat × Schaeffler
Taking the combat-proven P420 turbine from craft-scale to industrial series production — under license, on a partner with the precision, bearings and scale to build tens of thousands.
What “licensed manufacturing” actually means here
JetCat owns the design, the know-how and the type approval. Schaeffler owns industrial-scale precision manufacturing. A license agreement lets Schaeffler build the P420 in series against JetCat’s specification, paying a royalty per unit — without JetCat having to build a factory, and without Schaeffler having to invent a turbine.
JetCat licenses design, drawings, ECU firmware and process specs. Schaeffler pays a per-unit royalty and/or a fixed license fee.
Schaeffler industrializes the design: tooling, fixtures, automated assembly, QA — turning a 15k/yr craft output into a scalable production line.
Type design authority, brand, customer relationships and the technology roadmap stay with JetCat. Quality gates are contractually enforced.
The one partner whose core business is the hardest part of a turbine
A micro-turbine spinning at up to 98,000 rpm lives or dies on one component: the bearing system. That is precisely Schaeffler’s home turf — high-speed precision bearings, rotating assemblies and mass-manufacturing at aerospace tolerances.
High-speed bearings
The P420 turns at 30k–98k rpm. Bearing design, tolerancing and lifetime are the #1 reliability driver — and Schaeffler’s core competency worldwide.
Mass precision manufacturing
Schaeffler runs high-volume precision lines across automotive and aerospace. Scaling from 15k to 100k+ units/yr is a manufacturing problem they solve daily.
Aerospace & defense credibility
A Schaeffler-built engine carries industrial QA weight that defense primes (Raytheon, MBDA, Kratos) and European MoDs trust for series procurement.
“JetCat has the combat-proven design and the type authority. Schaeffler has the bearings, the tolerances and the volume. Neither can reach the mass-deployment market alone at the required rate — together they can.”
Clean lines, no overlap
JetCat
- Design & IP — full P420 drawings, materials, ECU firmware
- Type approval & configuration control
- Technology roadmap — next-gen variants, upgrades
- Brand & customers — defense primes, JetCat Defense (US)
- Acceptance testing spec & final sign-off criteria
Schaeffler
- Industrialization — tooling, fixtures, automation
- Bearing system — high-speed rotor bearings (core strength)
- Volume production — scalable line, supply chain
- Series QA — statistical process control, traceability
- Cost-down — value engineering at volume, per-unit royalty to JetCat
From handshake to full-rate production
A licensed-manufacturing deal runs in defined gates. Each gate de-risks the next and keeps IP protected until commitments are firm.
NDA & Term Sheet
Mutual NDA, then a term sheet: license scope, exclusivity, territory, target volumes, royalty model. Protects both sides before any drawings move.
Weeks 0–4Technical Feasibility & Transfer Audit
Schaeffler audits the design for manufacturability at volume; JetCat scopes the technology-transfer package (drawings, specs, process, ECU).
Months 1–3License Agreement
Binding license: royalty per unit + minimum annual volumes, quality gates, field-of-use (e.g. defense), IP protection, audit rights, term & exit.
Months 3–6Industrialization & Pilot Line
Schaeffler builds tooling and a pilot line; first articles are validated against JetCat acceptance-test spec. Delta-qualification of any process changes.
Months 6–14Low-Rate → Full-Rate Production
Ramp: low-rate initial production, then full-rate. Continuous royalty flow to JetCat; JetCat retains design authority and roadmap.
Year 2+How to structure the licensed manufacturing
A workable model separates cleanly into three layers: a license & IP layer, a manufacturing & supply layer, and a commercial & governance layer. Each has its own contract, so IP, production and money stay independently controllable.
How JetCat gets paid — a layered royalty
One-time technology-access fee on signing — pays for the transfer package and locks commitment.
A fixed € amount or % of factory cost per P420 built — the core recurring revenue, scaling with volume.
Minimum annual royalty / take-or-pay — protects JetCat if Schaeffler under-produces, and justifies any exclusivity.
Step-downs at high volume + milestone bonuses (e.g. first defense contract) to align both sides on scaling.
Start with a Technology License + Supply/Quality Agreement (fastest, lowest structural risk). Keep the defense field-of-use either with JetCat or in a small dedicated JV so export control and margins stay clean. Add exclusivity only in exchange for a hard minimum-volume commitment. This gives JetCat volume + royalties without losing IP or the customer — and gives Schaeffler a proven product to fill a precision line.
JetCat P420 — built for mass deployment
The P420 is JetCat’s ~100 lbf-class, P400-derived turbine, optimized for expendable/attritable platforms: faster startup, dual-redundant ignition, enhanced reliability. Combat-proven lineage (P400-PRO deployed operationally in Ukraine).
| Thrust class | ~100 lbf / ~445 N |
| Base platform | P400 series |
| RPM range | 30k – 98k |
| Ignition | Dual-redundant |
| Optimized for | Mass deployment |
| Architecture | Radial comp · axial turbine |
| Control | 32-bit ECU · CAN |
Why it matters for series
- COTS-leaning design reduces exotic-material dependence — friendlier to industrial supply chains
- Electric start (no pyrotechnics) — simpler, safer high-volume assembly
- Proven P400 lineage — the hard engineering is already done and battle-tested
- Attritable price point — the market wants volume, not exquisite
Why now, and why this is big
Production capacity: craft vs. licensed series
The drone war made small turbines a mass-consumption item. Whoever can build proven engines at industrial rate — not hundreds, but tens of thousands per year — owns the propulsion layer of the attritable-systems market. A JetCat × Schaeffler license is the fastest credible path there.