Testing starts for the GE Aviation-Rolls-Royce Joint Strike Fighter engine for the F136 jet

GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric Company and headquartered in Evendale, Ohio, the United States, and partner Rolls-Royce have begun testing their first completed Joint Strike Fighter engine for the F136 fighter jet.

The two companies said in a joint statement that the testing of the GE Aviation Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine began on January 30, 2009, at the GE Aviation’s facility in Evendale a month ahead of schedule. Prototypes of the engine had been tested at GE Aviation’s test site at Peebles, Ohio, the United States, and also at the US Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Centre in Tennessee.

Many more engines are being built and they would be in the testing stages by the end of 2009, the statement said, adding that GE Aviation and Rolls-Royce were developing those engines as an alternative to another Joint Strike Fighter engine being built by Pratt & Whitney.

The GE Aviation Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine for the F136 jet are being developed at GE Aviation’s headquarters in Evendale, Ohio, and Rolls-Royce’s facilities in Indianapolis, the United States, and Bristol, the United Kingdom. The first engines are scheduled to be delivered in 2012.

The joint statement said that GE Aviation was responsible for 60% of the F136 programme by developing the core compressor and coupled high-pressure/low-pressure turbine system components, controls and accessories, and the augmentor. Rolls-Royce, which has 40% of the F136 programme, is developing the front fan, combustor, stages 2 and 3 of the low-pressure turbine, and gearboxes.

International participant-countries too are contributing to the F136 programme through involvement in engine development and component manufacturing, the statement said.

The first production F136 engines, slated to be delivered in 2012, are meant for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. The F-35 is claimed to be a next-generation, multi-role stealth aircraft intended to replace the AV-8B Harrier, A-10, F-16, F/A-18 Hornet and Britain’s Harrier GR7 and Sea Harrier – all of which are at present powered by engines made by GE Aviation or Rolls-Royce.

The companies said the first complete testing of the F136 engine began under the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) contract with the United States Government Joint Program Office for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme.

According to the two aircraft-engine making companies, potential customers for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft include the US Air Force, the US Navy, the US Marines as well as customers in other countries, including Britain’s Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, and that the production of the F-35 may reach 5000 to 6000 aircraft over the next 30 years.

In a separate statement, Jean Lydon-Rodgers, president of the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team, said: “The new F136 engine represents a major achievement for our powerful partnership. In it, we have combined the best technologies from GE Aviation and Rolls-Royce into an outstanding design that will benefit the military customer over the long run.”