Huntsville, Alabama – The U.S. Army has announced that the Advanced Turbine Engine Company (ATEC), a joint venture of Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney, has been awarded a contract for preliminary design review of a new engine for the Army's fleet of Black Hawk and Apache helicopters.
The two-year contract, part of the Army's Improved Turbine Engine (ITE) program, will support the design of an advanced 3,000shp turbine engine – ATEC's HPW3000.
The primary goal of the ITE program is to produce an affordable new engine that will substantially improve performance over the current engine powering Black Hawk and Apache helicopters. The Army specifications require that the new engine be 50% more powerful, 25% more fuel efficient, and provide 20% longer engine life over the current engine, while also meeting stringent performance goals in high altitude and hot conditions at 6,000ft and 95°F.
ATEC recently completed testing of two HPW3000 demonstrator engines, which performed very well and have already validated various program requirements, according to Craig Madden, president of ATEC.
"We are very confident in the engine design and in the results we've seen in testing so far," said Madden.
The HPW3000 features a dual-spool architecture and uses many of the latest gas turbine engine technologies. The engine's dual-spool architecture offers significant advantages, including optimized engine efficiency, decreased maintenance costs, extended engine life, and greater power growth capability – offering the Army maximum flexibility as mission requirements evolve and change.
When factoring in savings from decreased fuel consumption and lowered operating and support costs, the HPW3000 is expected to offer potential annual savings of $1 billion, compared with the current engine in the Black Hawk and Apache fleets.
"The advantages of the HPW3000 design mean that U.S warfighters can have confidence that the engine will perform as intended and be capable of performing throughout a wider range of operations," said Jerry Wheeler, ATEC's vice president for programs.
The Army's development schedule for the engine program calls for the service to select from competing preliminary engine designs in 2018 and then proceed with a sole engine developer.
Source: Advanced Turbine Engine Co. (ATEC)
The two-year contract, part of the Army's Improved Turbine Engine (ITE) program, will support the design of an advanced 3,000shp turbine engine – ATEC's HPW3000.
The primary goal of the ITE program is to produce an affordable new engine that will substantially improve performance over the current engine powering Black Hawk and Apache helicopters. The Army specifications require that the new engine be 50% more powerful, 25% more fuel efficient, and provide 20% longer engine life over the current engine, while also meeting stringent performance goals in high altitude and hot conditions at 6,000ft and 95°F.
ATEC recently completed testing of two HPW3000 demonstrator engines, which performed very well and have already validated various program requirements, according to Craig Madden, president of ATEC.
"We are very confident in the engine design and in the results we've seen in testing so far," said Madden.
The HPW3000 features a dual-spool architecture and uses many of the latest gas turbine engine technologies. The engine's dual-spool architecture offers significant advantages, including optimized engine efficiency, decreased maintenance costs, extended engine life, and greater power growth capability – offering the Army maximum flexibility as mission requirements evolve and change.
When factoring in savings from decreased fuel consumption and lowered operating and support costs, the HPW3000 is expected to offer potential annual savings of $1 billion, compared with the current engine in the Black Hawk and Apache fleets.
"The advantages of the HPW3000 design mean that U.S warfighters can have confidence that the engine will perform as intended and be capable of performing throughout a wider range of operations," said Jerry Wheeler, ATEC's vice president for programs.
The Army's development schedule for the engine program calls for the service to select from competing preliminary engine designs in 2018 and then proceed with a sole engine developer.
Source: Advanced Turbine Engine Co. (ATEC)
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