CFM International executives are not ruling out a geared turbofan concept as they consider architectures for an engine to power a new Boeing aircraft.
The GE-Snecma joint venture is evaluating "multiple" architectures and technologies for engines for Boeing's new midsized aircraft, a proposed concept for a family of 200-270 seat airliners with 5,000nm range that would enter service in the middle of the next decade.
"We're not ruling out an architecture," says Francois Bastin, executive vice-president and general manager of the CFM programme. "We've done a geared engine. We have no religion against the gear. For [the Leap engine programme], the gear was just not the right architecture."
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In the late 1970s, GE participated in NASA's quiet clean short-haul experimental engine (QCSEE) programme, which led to testing of a geared turbofan. In the '80s, the manufacturer experimented with open-rotor engines featuring a power gearbox.
But Pratt & Whitney is asserting broad intellectual property ownership of geared turbofan technology. In late May, P&W president Bob Leduc promised to "enforce our rights" if another competitor, Rolls-Royce, proposed a geared turbofan for Boeing's NMA concept.
P&W's rivals in the engine industry, however, have not conceded the technology. To be sure, CFM has not said it is planning to propose a geared turbofan for Boeing's NMA, but is keeping its options open, at least publicly.
"The gear is itself not an [intellectual property]," Bastin says.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
