Magellan Delivers to GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team

Released on Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Farnborough Air Show, Farnborough, UK - 16 July 2008 - The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team has received the first deliveries of front fan frames from Magellan Aerospace in Canada for the F136 engine which will power the F-35 Lightning II aircraft.

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

The high-tech fan frame, constructed mainly of titanium, was delivered this year to Rolls-Royce defence facilities in Bristol, UK. The frame will serve as the front portion of the first F136 engine in production configuration. The engine will be completed in upcoming months and begin testing in early 2009.

The F136 front fan frame is the largest example of this product type manufactured by Magellan at its Orenda Aerospace facility in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

Mark Rhodes, Senior Vice President of the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team, praised the work of Magellan in delivering the key component for the F136 engine.

"The expertise of Magellan Aerospace is crucial in the delivery of this portion of the F136 engine. These high-tech components reflect the very best of Canadian industry and will make a significant contribution toward our success. The impressive power of the F136 engine begins, literally, with Magellan Aerospace and its front fan frame."

"The technology and know-how contained in a fighter engine front frame is one of the core capabilities within Magellan. The Magellan team is able to provide excellent value by introducing manufacturing engineering solutions to optimize the production process," said Jim Butyniec, Chief Executive Officer of Magellan Aerospace Corporation.

The Fighter Engine Team will begin testing this first production engine in early 2009. This is the first engine to be delivered under the System Development and Demonstration contract with the US Government. First flight of the F136 engine in an F-35 Lightning II will take place in 2010.