Aircraft

Series of demonstration powerplants for different aircraft types to be developed under EU joint technology initiative
Demonstrator engines developed under the €1.6 billion ($2.09 billion) European Union Clean Sky joint technology initiative (JTI) could be tested on the ground or in flight by the beginning of the next decade.
With €800 million from the EU and €800 million from industry, the Clean Sky initiative has the research areas of green engines, smart wings, more environmentally benign operations, eco-friendly rotorcraft, regional air transport and "eco-design", which looks at reducing the environmental impact of aircraft from cradle to grave.
The JTI is a legal instrument for creating public-private partnerships for large-scale research projects, specifically for advanced technology demonstrators. "There is a time plan we have developed. Some technology choices have to be made, [but] from mid-JTI onwards we will construct and test engines," says Marco Brusati, scientific officer of the European Commission research directorate aeronautics unit.
Brusati expects a series of engine demonstrators to be developed for different types of aircraft under Clean Sky. The JTI will run for seven years as part of the EU's €50.5 billion Seventh Framework research programme (FP7), which ends in 2013. Of the FP7 budget, €4.16 billion is for transport research, including aeronautics.
The document to create the JTI has already been agreed with industrial partners and is being prepared by the EC, which will formally propose it to the EU ministerial council for approval. The JTI should be voted into existence by the EU council, after consultation with the European Parliament, in the third quarter of this year. The Clean Sky now has 12 industrial "founders" including Airbus, Eurocopter, Liebherr, Safran and Thales.