FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1987
1987 - 0092.PDF
MILITARY PROPULSION flight rating test in mid-1988 that will result in one of the two teams being chosen to proceed with development of the engine. In July 1985, Allison/Garrett and Avco/Pratt & Whitney were awarded competitive T800 development contracts worth $264 million and $240 million respectively. The Allison/Garrett team, called LHTEC, ran its first complete T800-LHT-800 in August last year. Avco/Pratt & Whitney's first complete T800-APW-800 followed in October. Both teams are investing significant amounts of their own money in T800 development. At stake is a 10,000-engine production programme stretching over 13 years and peaking at 1,000 T800s a year. Because of the size of the programme the US Army dictated teaming. Allison and Avco Lycoming were already working on Army-funded 800 s.h.p. advanced-technology demonstrator engines (ATDEs), but LHX needed a 1,200 s.h.p. turboshaft. Garrett had begun private-venture development of an 1,100 s.h.p. TSE109 turboshaft derivative of its F109 turbofan for the T-46 trainer, and joined forces with Allison to offer the ATE109. Avco, meanwhile, uprated its PLT34 ATDE engine to 1,200 s.h.p. before joining forces with Pratt & Whitney to offer the APW34. A General Electric/ Williams team bid for the T800 contract but lost. After "down-select" in mid-1988, the winning T800 team will continue devel opment, conducting a 300hr qualification test in mid-1990, by which time both team-members will be producing complete engines. The programme includes 78 deliverable T800s, and the engine will power LHX prototypes built by both airframe teams—a total of 14 aircraft in all—the first of which will fly in mid-1991. Production engines are currently planned to be available in 1992, although LHX is not scheduled to enter service General Electric's T700 has set new standards for helicopter powerplants 28 until 1995. The first two engine pro duction lots, some 300 engines, will not be competitive, but thereafter the two former team members will compete annually to produce the bulk of each year's engines. Each company will be guaranteed 30 per cent of the engines, and the remaining 40 per cent will be subject to competition, the low bidder getting up to 70 per cent, there fore, of that year's production. This form of competition may seem wasteful because one engine will be discarded, but it ensures competition during development and production. It avoids the pitfalls of selecting a single contractor too soon, and the problems of transferring a successful design to a second production source. The unsuccessful team could always elect to continue development of their T800 at their own expense. Other applica tions of the T800 have been identified, including armoured-vehicle engines. Europe is another possible target. Already MTU, Rolls-Royce, and Turbo- meca are discussing possible joint devel opment of a 1,200 s.h.p. turboshaft to power the Franco-German common anti tank helicopter (Cath) and a possible four- nation, twin-engined A. 129 Mk 2. The T800 is the first US metric engine. V-22 power: reducing the risk An all-altitude test stand simulating the tilting nacelle of the V-22 tilt-rotor trans port is being used to put Allison's T406 turboshaft through its paces. On this stand, the 6,150 s.h.p. engine is rotated through 90° to simulate the tilting of the wingtip nacelle as the V-22 transitions from rotorborne to wingborne flight and back again. This is just the latest in a series of tests which began with the first complete engine run late last year, and which will lead to a V-22 first flight in June 1988. The Allison T406-AD-400 was a surprise choice to power the V-22. The modern technology engines (MTEs) demonstrated by General Electric and Pratt & Whitney under US Army spon sorship had been strongly favoured to power the tilt-rotor aircraft. When the Navy announced its decision, however, it cited the lower development cost and risk attached to the T406, which is a derivative of the existing T56. While the engine was heavier and thirstier than either of the MTEs, it offered ample power, with more to come. The T406 was also available sooner, enabling prototype V-22s to fly with the production engine, rather than with the interim powerplant needed until the MTE was ready. Some 2,370 engines are required to power the 913 V-22s planned—a number which is likely to increase. To ensure competition, Allison selected Pratt & Whitney to be qualified as the second T406 source. The first four production lots—629 engines—will be supplied by Allison. Therefore the two companies will compete, although each is guaranteed a minimum share. D FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 11 April 1987
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
