Tag: GE Aerospace

U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Tiltrotor Shifts to Next Development Phase

Defense News reports, “The U.S. Army’s future long-range aircraft is moving out of technology development and into the critical engineering and manufacturing development phase, the service announced Friday. The Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft program, or FLRAA, is estimated to be worth approximately $70 billion across its lifespan, including foreign military sales, and is set to replace roughly 2,000 Black Hawk utility helicopters.”
Full Story (Defense News)

GE Aerospace’s XA100 Engine Completes Third Phase of Ground Tests

Aviation Week reports that “GE Aerospace has wrapped a third phase of ground tests on its XA100 adaptive turbofan engine, as it continues to press for support to re-engine the F-35 with its proposal.” Breaking Defense reports that according to David Tweedie, GE Aerospace Vice President and General Manager for Advanced Defense Products, the third phase of testing, “conducted in the company’s Evendale test cell, ran between April and June 2023. Through it, GE engineers collected reams of new data and pursued some new approaches. For example, the company tested different elements of the flight envelope, and Tweedie said that ‘there’s ways to reconfigure the engine to go exercise it in different ways to understand performance derivatives, and other things.’” GE hopes that the data gathered from the “third round of testing will bolster its efforts to mature adaptive engine technology – cutting edge propulsion that can offer capability improvements like greater fuel efficiency and more thrust over legacy engines.”
Full Story (Aviation Week); More Info (Breaking Defense)

USAF F-35As Will See Engine Upgrades Instead of New Adaptive Engines

Aviation Week reports that the US Air Force “has decided not to reengine its Lockheed Martin F-35s, ending a potential competition between GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney to equip the fleet with a new powerplant.” Its fiscal 2024 budget request “ends funding for the Adaptive Engine Transition Program,” which was a competition between GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney to build a new adaptive engine for the F-35 fighter platform.
More Info (Aviation Week)

GE Aerospace Continues to Urge USAF to Procure New Powerplant for F-35

FlightGlobal reports, “GE Aerospace is continuing to press the US Air Force (USAF) to procure a new powerplant for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fifth-generation fighter, rather than opting to perform core upgrades on the existing F-35 powerplant.” GE Aerospace claims that its XA100 adaptive-cycle engine, built for the F-35 under the USAF’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program, provides “transformational benefits” in range, thrust, acceleration and fuel consumption. GE Edison Works General Manager David Tweedie said on February 16, “We really think AETP clearly is the solution. And we are ready to meet that challenge and continue to move forward.” According to FlightGlobal, this “push comes ahead of the expected release in March of President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget proposal – a document that could reveal the Pentagon’s plans for addressing shortfalls with the F-35’s existing, P&W-made F135 powerplant.”
More Info (FlightGlobal)

Pratt & Whitney Moves Ahead on F-35 ECU Program

Aviation Week reports that Pratt & Whitney now “has 400 engineers working on a major upgrade for the F135 engine that powers the Lockheed Martin F-35, as the company waits for congressional approval of the formal program go-ahead in fiscal 2024.” The team assigned “to the Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) program has been funded with previous congressional add-ons to the fiscal 2023 budget that now total $180 million in awarded contracts, including a $66 million award announced on July 11, says Jill Albertelli, president of Pratt’s military engines business.” The awards are funding work “on early architecture studies and engineering preparation for the preliminary design review, Albertelli said.” Both efforts have been “launched as Congress considers the Pentagon’s request to launch full development of the ECU program in fiscal 2024.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

GE Aerospace Expands Use of its AI-Powered Blade Inspection Technology

Aviation Week reports, “GE Aerospace is expanding the use of its artificial intelligence-enabled blade inspection tool to its two most advanced commercial engine platforms. GE, which first debuted the AI-enabled blade inspection tool (BIT) at MRO Americas last year, has been using the technology to improve speed, accuracy and consistency of GEnx engine inspections. The company is now releasing similar AI-enabled BITs for GE9X and CFM International Leap engine platforms.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)