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No other news outlet in Southwest Ohio provides the same in-depth coverage of GE Aviation, a major area employer and business player in the region.
GE Aviation started Monday the first full engine testing of a military combat engine in development with the U.S. Air Force.
The jet engine maker has been since 2007 researching and developing new engine technologies under a contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, housed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in the Dayton-area. The contract for the engine program Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology, as it’s called, concludes next year.
U.S. Congressmen Mike Turner (R-OH) and Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) visited GE Aviation’s Evendale headquarters on Monday to learn more.
The ADVENT engine is expected to achieve 25 percent greater fuel efficiency than other military engines currently in service, according to the Ohio manufacturer.
“Today we plan to start the testing of the most advanced combat engine in the history of propulsion called the ADVENT,” said Brad McCormick, general manager of adaptive cycle programs for GE.
“What’s exciting about this is that this is a partnership and investment, where AFRL, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is also at the table, but you also have private industry bringing their capital to the table so we can advance knowledge and advance capabilities so when we get to that next generation of developing aircraft we’ll be ready,” Turner said.
Once full engine testing is complete, GE will continue developing adaptive cycle technology through another Air Force program that is scheduled to conclude in 2016.
The new military engine in development uses the company’s proven commercial engine technologies: the next-generation LEAP high-pressure compressor; heat-resistant ceramic matrix composite materials in the combustor and high-pressure turbine; and additive (3-D) manufactured components, GE Aviation said.
LEAP will be GE Aviation’s next big commercial product to enter service in 2016.
Earlier this year, GE Aviation tested an ADVENT engine core that recorded the highest temperatures in history for a jet engine. Temperatures in the test exceeded the target by 130 degrees Fahrenheit, GE Aviation said.
No engines using the technology from the ADVENT program have been ordered at this point to supply planes.
“What we’re always looking for is making sure that as a nation we are ready and we have the readiness that we need to keep up with our adversaries and if we can do that more efficiently, and more productively, then we’re all better served,” said Wenstrup, who serves on an armed services committee with Turner.
“We want to keep up technologically… but at the same time we’re hopefully finding ways where we are decreasing costs. Perhaps in the long-run we may need less bases and things like that if we can be more efficient with our aircraft,” Wenstrup said.
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