Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH
Eurojet is planning to certificate its EJ200 turbofan engine for the Eurofighter EF2000 by the end of November 1999, and is preparing for ground and flight testing of the engine's production version from March next year.
The company says it will introduce the 03B version of the powerplant in September. This will be close to production standard. Manufacture of the certification-standard engine should also begin this year, with simultaneous flight trials and bench testing starting four months later, leading to certification by the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA).
"This [certificated] engine will be representative of the first production engine to be delivered in 2000," says Eurojet. The company adds, however, that development work will continue until full operational clearance is received, in fields such as maintainability, testability and weight - a crucial factor since the EF2000 airframe's centre of gravity is close to its aft limit.
The current 22 flying EJ200 prototypes have now flown over 560h in some 360 test flights, says Eurojet partner MTU. The engine experienced early compressor blade cracking and vapouriser burning problems, but otherwise the test programme has run smoothly, adds Eurojet.
Blade-integrated disk (blisk) technology has already been introduced into the low-pressure (LP)compressor and stage three of the five-stage high-pressure (HP)compressor. The production standard engine will have additional blisks in stages one and two of the HP compressor. Eurojet is considering the possibility of a later all-blisk version of the HP compressor, although this goes beyond the current requirement.
The EJ200 is fully modular, allowing on-condition maintenance with built-in health monitoring and test equipment. The engine has only about 60% of the number of aerofoils used in the Panavia Tornado's Turbo-Union RB199, which was used to power the first two EF2000 prototypes.
The Eurofighter production contract signed earlier this year covers the delivery of 1,500 EJ200s, worth some DM12.5 billion ($7 billion). The programme is divided among the Eurojet partners, with Rolls-Royce holding 36%, MTU 30%, FiatAvio 20% and ITP 14%.
Source: Flight International
