AlliedSignal has won a $7.4 million award from the US Department of Defense under the Integrated High Performance Turbine Engine technology (IHPTET) programme. The deal is the second advanced military engine research and development contract for AlliedSignal in four months.
The contract covers the demonstration of technologies for expendable engines powering cruise missiles and smaller unmanned air vehicles. These are being developed under Phase III of the Joint Expendable Engine Concepts (JETEC) element of the IHPTET programme which is a joint US Government-industry effort that is aimed at boosting the capability of propulsion.
The AlliedSignal work will follow on from tests of expendable demonstrators that have been completed or will do so shortly. These include the XTL16/1, produced by Allison Advanced Development, AlliedSignal's own XTL26/1 and Williams International's XTL86/1 and 86/2.
Details of the Phase II JETEC results remain classified, although targets include a 70% increase in thrust/airflow, a 30% reduction in specific fuel consumption (SFC) and a 45% cut in production costs relative to 1980s' technology. Targets for the new phase call for a 100% thrust/airflow increase, a 40% SFC cut and a 60% production cost reduction.
The latest contract follows the award in late May of an $18.4 million cost-share contract for Phase III of the Joint Turbine Advanced Gas Generator programme. Also part of IHPTET, this covers advanced turboshaft and turboprop developments.
In this case, AlliedSignal is following on from earlier work with its own XTC56/1 and 56/2 demonstrators, as well as with the XTC96/2 demonstrator developed with General Electric.
Test results of the XTC96/2 came close to target, which included an 80% power/weight increase, a 30% SFC cut and a 20% reduction in production costs.
Source: Flight International