Rolls-Royce has supplied two Adour 106 flight development engines for flight trials in a Sepecat Jaguar aircraft at BAE Systems' Warton plant in the UK. Prototype flying clearance for the twin-engined installation was received last week and the first test flight is scheduled soon. An initial 48h type test, clearing the engine for flight testing, was completed earlier this month, and this engine will now continue to complete the full 150h type test requirement.
Initiative
Mating the export-specification reheat kit to the Adour 106 hasn't been a smooth process, with holes regularly being burned in jet pipes. However this has now been overcome and the ‘spend to save' initiative to re-engine the UK RAF's entire Jaguar fleet appears to be back on track.
The Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour 106 is an upgrade of the reheated version of the engine. It matches the latest non-reheated variant for the BAE Systems Hawk, the Mk871, with an international standard reheat system, offering greater hot-end life and additional power which is sure to be welcomed by the pilots of an aircraft that doesn't enjoy a huge surfeit of power.
Rolls-Royce is due to supply 122 engines to BAE Systems to retrofit the RAF's fleet of GR3As and T4s. The first production Mk 106 engine is due to come off the assembly line in July and converted aircraft will return to operational service at RAF Coltishall. R-R will utilise as much of the existing Mk104 engines as possible to save both time and cost.
Earlier flight trials involved a single Mk106 engine, operating alongside one of the current RAF operational standard Mk104 engines in BAE Systems' Jaguar (XX108) which is the oldest flying - and the UK's first production - example of the aircraft.
Source: Flight Daily News
