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Aviation History
1984
1984 - 0030.PDF
The 11,0001b thrust FJR.710 turbofan above is being developed by Japanese industry and research organisations to power the experimental Stol transport, seen below, undergoing windtunnel testing. The FJR710 successfully completed a duration run in mid-December the form of an interest-free loan repayable on a successful commercial outcome to the programme. The Japanese ministry of finance will provide the funds and MITI will administer them. The detailed terms of the loan and its repayment are therefore currently being negotiated on the one hand between JAEC and MITI, and on the other hand between MITI and the minis try of finance. It is possible that the repayment terms will be based on JAEC's profit, rather than as a levy on each V.25O0 engine sold. With five countries involved in the programme, four of which are seeking support from their governments, the field for negotiation is vast, early decisions are unlikely, and comparisons between the generosity shown by the different govern ments are inevitable. The capabilities of the three Japanese companies and their approach to the V.2500 programme are interesting. IHI This aero-engine group has made a significantly greater effort than the other JAEC partners to build up its engineering and production capacity. Consequently it dominates the Japanese aero-engine market, with some 3,500 employees, including 700 design and development engineers. Its 110,000m2 factory includes comprehensive engine test facilities. IHFs aero-engine sales in 1982 represented 69 per cent of all aero-engine sales in Japan. The IHI share of JAEC's participation in the V.2500 is the fan, representing about 60 per cent of the total. The fan will be based very much on Rolls-Royce's unique hollow, snubberless titanium fan tech nology. IHI's RJ.500 experience has enabled it to acquire the know-how to take on this work, the only equipment lacking in its facility being a test rig powerful enough to test the fan at take-off condi tions. KHI With 1,250 employees in its aero-engine group, 200 of which are engineers, KHI is second biggest of the three JAEC part ners. KHI will be responsible for the intermediate-pressure (IP) compressor, which is a single-stage booster running on the same shaft as the fan. This component represents 25 per cent of the Japanese share in the V.2500, and KHI possesses all the necessary knowledge and facilities to design, make, and test it. KHI's facilities extend to about 51,000m2. MHI Although MHI is the largest industrial giant in Japan, its aero-engine group and its share in JAEC is the smallest of the three partners. This somewhat para doxical situation probably results from the concentration of MHI on the airframe business, where it holds a dominant posi tion. MHI has had no prime contractorships for aero-engine work, but has contributed to programmes led by the other two manu facturers. It currently employs 750 people on aero-engines, including 80 engineers and designers, and it has 25,500m2 of factory area. The share of the V.2500 undertaken by MHI is small, at 15 per cent of the Japanese total, but it does have special technological interest because it draws on Pratt & Whitney rather than Rolls-Royce experience. MHI shares part of the high pressure turbine with P&W and has concluded a separate technical assistance agreement with the US company to enable it to achieve participation in this commer cially sensitive technology. The future There can now be no doubt that the V.2500 programme will be launched and, in spite of the complications of a five- nation collaboration, an engine will be developed, sold and supported. In the course of the programme all of the part ners will learn something from each other. As always in collaborations, the weakest at the start of a programme will learn most as it progresses. Thus the partners emerge at the end rather more equal than they were at the beginning. It follows that in the Nineties the Japanese must be expected to be a major force in the commercial aero-engine market. The V.2500 programme will not give them direct access to the core tech nology which is so essential to the success of an engine. However, the Japanese have on their own achieved in the FJR.710 engine a certain standard of core tech nology which has been surpassed only by Rolls-Royce, General Electric and Pratt & Whitney. Furthermore, there is a growing belief in Japan that the next fighter engine, due to be chosen in about three years time, is likely to be an indigenous design. Within 15 years, therefore, Japan looks set to be a formidable competitor in both the commercial and military aero-engine markets. For all its importance, the JAEC share of the V.2500 will occupy only 20 per cent of the engineering capacity of the three partners. The remaining 80 per cent will certainly not be idle. S3 30 FLIGHT International, 7 January 1984
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