Roadmap for F414 and F404 engines drives improvements

Having amassed 31,000 hours of ground and flight testing, the F414-GE-400 engine is now in production and operational on US Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. The F414 passed muster during the US Navy's Operational Evaluation of the Super Hornet, which culminated with an announcement earlier this year that the Super Hornet is "operationally effective and operationally suitable" - the highest grade possible.

The US Navy has ordered 62 Super Hornets and 140 F414 engines during the low rate initial production phase, and plans, ultimately, to buy a minimum of 548 aircraft. A multi-year procurement plan for the Super Hornet has been approved for the next full rate production phase, and US Navy approval of the F414 full rate production Lot IV contract for 73 engines is imminent.

Rated at 22,000 pounds (98 kN) thrust, with a nine-to-one thrust-to-weight ratio, the F414 has 35 percent greater thrust than its successful F404 predecessor, which powers some 1,350 F/A-18 legacy Hornets world-wide. GE has defined a growth development road map for the F414 that will increase its thrust by as much as 25 percent.

The F414 is derived from GE's F404, of which more than 3,700 F404 engines are in service, powering the aircraft of several military services world-wide, including the F-117 Stealth Fighters of the US Air Force and the F/A-18 fighter/attack aircraft of the US Navy and US Marine Corps and other governments world-wide. F404 derivatives also power Singapore's A-4SU Super Skyhawk and Sweden's JAS39 Gripen. South Africa has 28 Gripens on order with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2005.

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