GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES

Companies on the verge of announcing joint venture to develop family of turbofans

Honda Motor and General Electric are poised to announce plans to pursue a joint venture aimed at the development of a new family of small turbofans for the growing microjet market.

Details of the proposed joint venture are scarce, but airframe industry sources say the plan involves studies of a series of engines covering the 1,000-3,500lb (4.5-15.5kN) thrust range. The baseline engine for the proposed family will be Honda's newly developed HF118 turbofan, which recently powered the Japanese company's indigenously designed and manufactured HondaJet "compact" business jet.

Although saying little about its aerospace ambitions, Honda is widely understood to have begun seeking established industry partners in 2003 to help it penetrate the light and entry-level business jet market since embarking on studies in 1986. As well as looking for airframe partners for the HondaJet, it has also been looking at working with a major aircraft engine maker to establish the HF118 in its own right and the deal with GE, if sanctioned, will be considered a significant coup for the automotive company.

Neither GE or Honda were able to comment on the proposed joint venture. Industry sources, however, say "it is very early in the game, and no-one knows exactly how it will turn out". The joint venture would also suit GE's emerging strategic plan to increase its market presence in the lower thrust range to compete with Pratt & Whitney Canada and Williams International in the growing microjet arena.

The bulk of the development costs of the HF118 are now behind it, while GE is increasingly eager to fill out its thrust portfolio below the CF34 and CFE738, where its only existing legacy product is the 1960s' vintage CJ610, which powers some surviving early Learjet 24/25 series and Israel Aircraft Industries Westwind aircraft. Although the military J85 variant of the engine continued to be produced into the late 1980s, GE has not made a commercial turbojet or turbofan in this thrust category since the last CJ610 in 1978. The HF118 has been running at 1,670lb thrust on the HondaJet, but is designed for significant growth.

Source: Flight International