Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES
Pratt & Whitney has begun test runs of the XTE-66, the initial prototype of its PW7000 next-generation fighter engine family. The engine will offer a 50% thrust-to-weight improvement over the current F119 powerplant.
The PW7000 is expected to provide the basis for a family of new powerplants ranging in thrust from 20,000lb (89kN) to 35,000lb. However it will be aimed initially at the 27,000lb to 28,000lb thrust range for "new and emerging opportunities" says P&W advanced military engine programmes director, Jimmy Reed.
The company is preparing a campaign to apply the new engine to potential "candidates in the US and a longer shot in Europe" says Reed. Although P&W declines to identify specific projects, it is believed to include a potential new aircraft for suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD) and a close support aircraft (CSA) project.
The XTE-66 is based on the XTC-66 core that was successfully demonstrated last year under Phase II of the US integrated high performance turbine engine technology (IHPTET) programme. The XTE-66 adds an advanced two-stage fan and a vaneless low pressure turbine (LPT) to the core. It will be the first time the company has tested a vaneless LPT, made possible because the two spools of the engine are counter-rotating. The high pressure spool rotates at up to 22,000rpm in one direction and the LP spool at 10,000 rpm in the other. "We are excited, and a bit anxious, because it will deliver a 50% thrust-to-weight improvement over the F119" says Reed.
Assuming this performance level is reached, possibly within the next few weeks, P&W will have attained one of the key targets of IHPTET Phase II. The company is already planning its Phase III demonstrators, XTC-67 and XTE-67. The latter is seen as being particularly important as it will demonstrate a 20% growth path for the F119 engine used in the Joint Strike Fighter and F-22 Raptor programmes.
Commenting on the XTE-66, Reed says "...we have initiated testing and everything is going very well. We are now installing tip clearance probes before we advance beyond low power settings and go to full power".
P&W is benefiting from earlier work on the XTC-66, which provided the core for the PW6000 civil engine programme. This is being developed for the Airbus A318, and will be the basis for P&W's PW8000 geared fan engine that the company hopes to use as a new-technology challenger to the CFM International CFM56 early next century. P&W is using another XTC-66, the "SC", or CAESAR (component and engine structural assessment research) engine, as a "surrogate F119" engine in tests supporting the JSF and F-22 programmes.
Source: Flight International
