Rolls-Royce Turbomeca is launching a new variant of the British Aerospace Hawk powerplant.
The Adour 900 is designed to meet customers' demands for lower life-cycle costs, better reliability and maintainability well into the next century, says the joint venture.
Today Adour powers all variants of the Hawk trainer/light combat aircraft, and the US Navy's T-45A Goshawk advanced trainer.
John Ferrie, who takes over next month as chairman, says: "The end result of the enhancement package will be an engine that will operate for twice as long between overhauls based on current typical engine usage patterns.
"All reliability features of the current model will be retained, while the improvements will be capable of retrofit to other Adour variants in service."
The main features of the new model are a new high pressure compressor drum, longer-life combustion chamber and the latest single crystal blading technology in both the rotating and static blades.
"This will give the Adour 900 carefree handling, while reducing pilot workload and engine maintenance on the ground."
Source: Flight Daily News
