Industria de Turbo Propulsores (ITP) of Spain has completed the ground phase of its thrust vectoring nozzle test programme, which was resumed in October after the nozzle was shown at the Farnborough air show.
The nozzle has been installed on a Eurojet EJ200 engine, and has been run in a modified testbed at ITP's Ajalvir plant near Madrid. The engine/nozzle combination has been run for 78h, and functional and endurance tests have been performed. The nozzle has demonstrated a 23.5¼ maximum vector angle and 110¼/s maximum slew rate, both achieved with reheat on and has also undergone heavy mechanical cycling.
Further work this year will include the nozzle's stripping and inspection, more design effort towards weight reduction and altitude testing.
Source: Flight International