According to a report in General Aviation News, Storm Aeronautics is developing a modified Ag-Cat—the “Storm Cat”—that it will produce and sell to compete with today’s agricultural monoplanes. Upgrades to the modified Ag-Cat will include a gross weight increase to 10,000 pounds, a new PT6-140AG engine with nearly 900 horsepower, increased fuel capacity and range, a larger cockpit and a bigger hopper that can carry at least 500 gallons.
Per General Aviation News:
Full scale instrumented structural testing of the wings, fuselage, engine mount, and tail section have already been completed at the Storm Aeronautics facility in David City, Nebraska, and have shown “measurable new capabilities of the Ag-Cat design,” company officials report.
Following continued modeling and validation of the models, a prototype will be built to start the FAA Supplemental Type Certification (STC) certification testing process. Storm Aeronautics is teaming with Aeronautix, an engineering company that specializes in managing STC certification projects.
The full article is available here.