Julian Moxon/PARIS
French engine manufacturer Snecma has declined an offer from Rolls-Royce to take a share in the Trent 500 engine chosen to power the Airbus A340-500/600. It is Snecma's second refusal this year of an offer to join R-R on a Trent programme.
R-R chairman Sir Ralph Robbins revealed at the Paris air show in June that Snecma and others were being invited to join the project, for which R-R has secured what amounts to an exclusive deal to power the new A340 version.
"We would be very pleased to see Snecma join our programmes, above all the Trent 500," he says. The UK company says that it is talking to Snecma on a range of issues, and the door remains open on the Trent 500.
Earlier in the year, Snecma rejected another offer to join development of the Trent 900 for the Airbus A3XX. A company source says: "We have nothing against Rolls-Royce, but you cannot sleep with everybody."
Sources say that Snecma is determined not to upset its long-term relationship with General Electric, which has only recently been patched up following major disagreements between the previous president, Marc Dufour, and GE chief Jack Welch. New Snecma president Jean-Paul Bechat said at Paris that his company had been a "-major partner on large engines with GE for 25 years. I do not intend to renounce that."
R-R is looking for partners to take a risk-sharing stake of 21% in the Trent 500, which is a development of the Trent 700 and 800 powering the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777, respectively. This would be added to the shares resulting from R-R's existing Trent agreements, bringing the total to around 35-40%.
R-R denies that its offer is conditional on a strengthening of military ties through the Advanced Military Engine Technology research programme. The French defence ministry has proposed to its UK counterpart that a joint-venture company be established to take the project forward - a move supported by R-R.
Source: Flight International
