General Electric will build a turbo-prop engine the company announced at the National Business Aviation Aviation (NBAA) conference in Las Vegas yesterday.
The new engine already has a launch customer in the recently announced Textron Aviation single-engine turbo-prop (SETP), and looks set to challenge the supremacy of the Pratt & Whitney PT6 range.
The 1300 SHP-rated turbo-prop engine is the first of GE’s new family of turbo-prop engines aimed at business and GA aircraft in the 850-1600 SHP range. According to GE, the engine's Overall Pressure Ratio (OPR) of 16:1 is the best in the industry, giving the engine a 20% lower fuel burn and 10% higher cruise power compared to competitors in the same class.
“For the past five years, GE conducted design studies and actively researched the turbo-prop market to identify and integrate the best of our next-gen commercial and military technologies at the lowest cost and risk to our business aviation customers,” said Brad Mottier, Vice President and General Manager of GE Aviation’s Business & General Aviation and Integrated Systems division.
“We’re honored to be selected by Textron Aviation for its newest turbo-prop program and look forward to growing aircraft applications in the coming years with our new turbo-prop engine.”
Christi Tannahill, Textron Senior Vice President of Turboprops and Interior Design, said the new GE motor would work well with th new SETP.
“Our single engine turbo-prop will combine the best of both clean-sheet aircraft and new engine designs. Selecting GE as our engine partner reflects the best fit for the mission of the aircraft and our commitment to reliably deliver best-in-class performance capabilities to our customers,” Tannahill said.
“By leveraging the newest technologies, we expect our SETP to outperform the competition in critical areas ranging from cabin size and acquisition cost to performance capability and fuel savings.”
Textron's existing turbo-props, the Caravan and King Air ranges, all run P&W PT6s.
GE expects the design to be completed in 2017 with the first engine runs the following year.
More info on the new engine is on the GE Aviation website.