GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team Completes F136 STOVL Testing

Released on Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Farnborough, UK � 16 July 2008 - The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team has successfully completed Short Take Off, Vertical Landing (STOVL) testing on an F136 engine at the state-of-the-art GE testing facility at Peebles, Ohio.

The F136 engine is the most advanced fighter aircraft engine ever developed and will be available to power all variants of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the US military and eight partner nations.

All test objectives were reached as planned in the Peebles testing as the engine was configured in a variety of modes, leading to STOVL testing with common hardware systems for the F-35.

Testing also included the advanced controls architecture, which was demonstrated successfully in closed-loop mode operation. This important milestone was reached with the controls system developed under the Fighter Engine Team's ongoing System Development and Demonstration (SDD) contract.

The Fighter Engine Team's recent tests were conducted with F136 engines originally produced during the pre-SDD contract. Since then, the powerplants have been updated with new fan, augmentor and controls technology designed during the SDD process.

"These successful tests demonstrate the continued dedication of the Fighter Engine Team to meet its deadlines and stay within budget, while we press forward to deliver our production-configuration engine in a matter of months. Our Peebles test site is unique and allowed the F136 test engine to be put through its paces in all F-35 configurations," said Jean Lydon-Rodgers, President of the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team.

"The F136 was designed and developed from the beginning to meet the robust requirements for STOVL variants of the F-35 Lightning II. We successfully demonstrated our advanced technology during these recent tests. The design will also allow affordable growth in future, as well as lower maintenance costs," said Mark Rhodes, Senior Vice President of the Fighter Engine Team.

The first full SDD engine is scheduled to begin testing in early 2009, with first flight in the F-35 to follow in 2010.

The pre-SDD engines have totaled more than 700 hours of test time, contributing significantly to risk reduction in the programme. The testing has included multiple simulated flying conditions, at high-altitude and sea-level, with full afterburner and STOVL operations.