GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC
Manufacturer aims to swing USMC helicopter engine contest away from Rolls-Royce
Honeywell has proposed an uprated derivative of its T55 turboshaft engine to power the upgraded Sikorsky CH-53X heavylift helicopter to be developed for the US Marine Corps. The company's T55-715 offers 20% more power than the latest -714A engine, which powers Boeing's CH-47 Chinook transport.
The US Navy announced last month that it planned to award Sikorsky a contract for the system development and demonstration phase of its programme to modernise the triple-turbine CH-53E. Initial deliveries of the improved aircraft are scheduled to take place in 2009. Sikorsky issued a request for proposals to engine companies last year, says Nassos Karras, head of Honeywell's military propulsion business.
The USMC wants to use the 6,150shp (4,580kW) Rolls-Royce Allison AE1107C engine already powering its Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor transports, for commonality reasons, but Honeywell has entered the contest with the T55-715.
A turboshaft derivative of Pratt & Whitney Canada's PW150 turboprop is also expected to be a competitor, with General Electric believed to have offered a growth version of the 4,380shp T64-416 now powering the CH-53E.
Honeywell is already producing the digitally controlled, 4,900shp T55-714A, which develops 22% more power than the previous Chinook engine, and is under contract to develop the -715B, which will provide further increased power margins for hot-and-high operations, says Karras.
Honeywell is paying for work on the -715, which is still being defined. The engine would have a new compressor and could have a new core taken from an existing marine gas turbine, the US company says.
Source: Flight International
