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Growth Variant UAV Engine Reaches Flight Test Milestone

Dépèche transmise le 19 septembre 2011 par Business Wire

Growth Variant UAV Engine Reaches Flight Test Milestone

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has announced that the growth variant of the Rolls-Royce AE 3007H engine has successfully completed its US Air Force funded flight test.

“This is another major milestone for a system which has been flying for 13 years and amassed more than 60,000 flight hours. We continue to enhance our engine performance and capabilities for our customers with these types of improvements.”

The engine is designed to enhance performance of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft and will offer customers significant improvements in engine durability and total life-cycle cost savings.

The engine, which improves both the turbine and fuel nozzles, began development in 2008. Rolls-Royce made the announcement at the annual Air Force Association Air & Space Conference, near Washington, DC.

The growth engine was tested in a Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft and both aircraft and engine performed in line with expectations.

Stephen Fairbairn, Rolls-Royce, Vice President – Customer Business, stated: “This is another major milestone for a system which has been flying for 13 years and amassed more than 60,000 flight hours. We continue to enhance our engine performance and capabilities for our customers with these types of improvements.”

The Block III enhancement provides significant increases to the life of the turbine and nearly doubles its time on wing. It will become the production configuration for US Navy MQ-4C Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System (BAMS UAS) and the US Air Force Global Hawk program, as well as future variants.

The RQ-4 is powered by a Rolls-Royce AE 3007H turbofan engine.

Notes to Editors:

1. Rolls-Royce is a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, and has established a strong position in global markets - civil aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy.
2. As a result of this strategy, Rolls-Royce has a broad customer base comprising more than 500 airlines, 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160 armed forces, more than 2,500 marine customers, including 70 navies, and energy customers in nearly 120 countries, with an installed base of 54,000 gas turbines.
3. Annual underlying revenues were £10.8 billion in 2010, of which more than half came from the provision of services. The firm and announced order book stood at £61.4 billion at 30 June 2011, providing visibility of future levels of activity.
4. Rolls-Royce employs over 39,000 skilled people in offices, manufacturing and service facilities in over 50 countries. Over 11,000 of these employees are engineers.
5. In 2010, Rolls-Royce invested £923 million on research and development, two thirds of which had the objective of further improving the environmental performance of its products, in particular reducing emissions.
6. Rolls-Royce supports a global network of 28 University Technology Centres, which connect the company’s engineers with the forefront of scientific research.
7. The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills.