The U.S. Army has awarded Advanced Turbine Engine Company (ATEC), a joint venture of Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney, and GE a contract f...
The U.S. Army has awarded Advanced Turbine Engine Company (ATEC), a joint venture of Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney, and GE a contract for preliminary design review of a new engine for the Army’s fleet of UH-60 Blackhawk and AH-64E Apache helicopters.
The primary goal of Army's Improved Turbine Engine (ITE) program, is to produce an affordable new engine with a power of 3000 shaft hp that will dramatically improve performance over the current engine powering Black Hawk and Apache helicopters.
The Army specifications require that the new engine be 50 percent more powerful, 25 percent more fuel efficient, and provide 20 percent longer engine life over the current engine, while also meeting stringent performance goals in high altitude and hot conditions at 6,000 feet and 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
The ATEC design is called the HPW3000 while GE will develop the GE3000 engine, under the $154 million, $102 million contracts awarded respectively.
The GE3000 engine features advanced technologies such as high temperature ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials, additive manufactured parts and advanced 3D aerodynamic designs to meet the Army's aggressive performance requirements for future helicopter missions.
ATEC claims its HPW3000 engine will save $1 billion, compared with the current engine in the Black Hawk and Apache fleets due to reduced maintenance and support requirements.
The Army’s development schedule for the engine program calls for the service to select from competing preliminary engine designs in 2018 and then proceed with a sole engine developer.
Both companies have completed development of the demonstrator engines.
The primary goal of Army's Improved Turbine Engine (ITE) program, is to produce an affordable new engine with a power of 3000 shaft hp that will dramatically improve performance over the current engine powering Black Hawk and Apache helicopters.
The Army specifications require that the new engine be 50 percent more powerful, 25 percent more fuel efficient, and provide 20 percent longer engine life over the current engine, while also meeting stringent performance goals in high altitude and hot conditions at 6,000 feet and 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
The ATEC design is called the HPW3000 while GE will develop the GE3000 engine, under the $154 million, $102 million contracts awarded respectively.
The GE3000 engine features advanced technologies such as high temperature ceramic matrix composite (CMC) materials, additive manufactured parts and advanced 3D aerodynamic designs to meet the Army's aggressive performance requirements for future helicopter missions.
ATEC claims its HPW3000 engine will save $1 billion, compared with the current engine in the Black Hawk and Apache fleets due to reduced maintenance and support requirements.
The Army’s development schedule for the engine program calls for the service to select from competing preliminary engine designs in 2018 and then proceed with a sole engine developer.
Both companies have completed development of the demonstrator engines.
