JSF-F120 engine team prepares to run full core engine test

With the successful completion of several component rig tests, the JSF-F120 Engine Team is preparing to run a core engine test later this summer.

The JSF-F120 team consists of GE Aircraft Engines (GEAE), Allison Advanced Development Company (AADC),; Rolls-Royce, and Philips Machinefabrieken (PMF) in The Netherlands.

Operating on the JSF's office Phase II programme awarded in 1996, the JSF-F120 team completed its Critical Design Review for the JSF-F120 core in 1999 and, during the past year, completed component-rig tests on the turbine at GEAE, and the combustor and fan at AADC.

The full core engine test will be conducted next month at the AADC facility in Indianapolis.

The JSF-F120 team is also on contract for a $440 million, Phase III effort, consisting of a firm requirement for $115 million and an option for $325 million and is a follow-on to the four-year Phase II contract.

Phase III firm and option efforts will cover engine development activities for the period of October 2000 to September 2004.It includes component and subsystem testing, leading to full JSF-F120 engine testing for the winning JSF aircraft contractor in late 2003.

In Phase III, JSF-F120 engines will be tested for the various JSF variants: Short Take-Off Vertical Landing (STOVL) for the US Marine Corps and United Kingdom Royal Navy, Conventional Take-Off/Landing (CTOL) for the US Air Force, and the Carrier Variant (CV) for the US Navy.

For the JSF-F120, GE is developing a multistage blisk compressor, and advanced system components. AADC and GE are jointly developing a coupled turbine system (an integrated high-pressure/low-pressure counter-rotating design), while AADC is responsible for the combustor/diffuser system and the gearbox. Rolls-Royce is developing an increased-flow, three-stage, long-chord hollow titanium blisk fan.

PMF joined the JSF-F120 team last year and will lead a consortium of Dutch, Norwegian, and Danish companies to join in the design, development, and manufacture of the propulsion system.

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