The Army has officially delivered the new General Electric Aerospace [GE]-built T901 helicopter engines to Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) competitors
Bell [TXT] and Sikorsky [LMT], setting the program up to fly prototypes for the first time next year.
Delivery of the GE T901 engines, developed under the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP), on October 20 follows several delays due to manufacturing challenges that pushed the FARA program timeline and flight test plans by nearly a year.
“I am incredibly proud of the teamwork and partnership between the Army and GE Aerospace to deliver engines to the FARA [competitive prototypes]. It has taken several years of development to get here, so it’s exciting to see the T901 come to life in support of Army aviation modernization,” Lt. Col. Kelley Nalley, ITEP product manager, said in a statement.
FARA is the Army’s program to field a new scout attack helicopter, having selected Bell’s 360 Invictus and Sikorsky’s Raider X designs for the current competitive prototyping phase.
After the Army confirmed earlier this month it had accepted the first two T901 engines, Rodney Davis, the Army’s acting program executive officer for aviation, told reporters that Bell and Sikorsky’s competitive prototypes could begin flying by “about the middle of next year” (Defense Daily, Oct. 10).
The Army’s announcement Monday evening on the T901 engine deliveries stated the milestone sets both FARA competitors on a path for aircraft ground runs in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024 and first flights in the fourth quarter.
Bell said on Tuesday its been preparing its “FARA support infrastructure, supply chain and manufacturing hub to ensure alignment” as it awaited the T901 delivery, and that the company will move onto instrumenting and installing the new engine to prepare for ground testing.
“The ITEP delivery is a major milestone for FARA and the Bell 360 Invictus competitive prototype,” Jayme Gonzalez, Bell’s FARA program manager, said in a statement. “Now that we have received the engine, we are ready to begin working toward ground runs and other necessary preparations before first flight later next year.”
Sikorsky on Tuesday confirmed it’s also beginning work on the T901 engine installation process for its Raider X prototype, with the “engine turn on and drive system checks” as the next steps ahead of ground tests and then flight tests next year.
“Lockheed Martin’s model-based systems engineering approach gives the Sikorsky team confidence in this final phase of the Raider X build which brings us one step closer to completing this weapon system that will match the rapid pace of the reconnaissance mission,” Andy Adams, Sikorsky’s future vertical lift vice president, said in a statement.
GE Aerospace was awarded a $517 million contract in February 2019 to develop the T901 engine for ITEP, which will eventually power the Army’s AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters as well as the future FARA platform (Defense Daily, Feb. 1, 2019).
“With increased fuel efficiency and 50 percent more power than the current engine, the ITEP engine is one of the cornerstones to Black Hawk modernization and will increase the aircraft’s lift capability and range,” Sikorsky’s Adams said. “As the U.S. Army fields Future Vertical Lift aircraft, the Black Hawk will remain the foundational tactical air assault and utility aircraft for the U.S. Army.”