| GE38 / T408 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| The T408 on a CH-53K King Stallion | |
| Type | Turboshaft |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | GE Aviation |
| First run | December 26, 1989 |
| Major applications | Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion (T408) |
| Developed into | CFE CFE738 |
The General Electric GE38 is a gas turbine developed by GE Aviation for turboprop and turboshaft applications. It powers the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion as the T408. [1]
The GE27 was developed in the early 1980s under the "Modern Technology Demonstrator Engines" (MTDE) program sponsored by the United States Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate. [2] Sporting a 22:1 pressure ratio, which was a record for single-spool compressors at the time, the GE27 [3] was GE's unsuccessful submission to power the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. The GE27 also had a compressor air flow of 27–28 pounds per second (12–13 kg/s) and a turbine temperature of 2,400–2,500 °F (1,320–1,370 °C; 2,860–2,960 °R; 1,590–1,640 K). [2] The GE27 first ran in late 1984, but it unexpectedly lost the V-22 engine competition to the Allison 501-M80C, which was not a participant in the MTDE program. [4]
In the late 1980s, GE used the GE27 as the basis for the commercial development of turboshafts, turboprops, turbofans, and propfans under the GE38 name. GE formed a 50/50 venture with Garrett (then a division of AlliedSignal) to develop the turbofan variant [5] called the CFE (Commercial Fan Engines) CFE738, which used the GE27's gas generator core. [2] One of a range of advertised GE38 unducted fan (UDF) sizes, [5] the 9,620 lbf (4,360 kgf; 42.8 kN) takeoff thrust GE38-B5 was for a time the baseline engine for the West German-Chinese MPC-75 regional airliner. [6] The GE38 became the T407 military turboprop in partnership with Lycoming Engines for the Lockheed P-7A, with a maximum takeoff power of 6,000 shp (4,475 kW). First run on December 26, 1989, [7] the T407 engine was scheduled to undergo flight testing on a Lockheed P-3 Orion testbed aircraft in the summer of 1990, [8] but the US Navy canceled Lockheed's P-7 contract on July 20, 1990. [9] The commercial version of the T407 was the GLC38 (General Electric/Lycoming Commercial 38), which was unsuccessfully offered for several turboprop airliners in the late 1980s and early 1990s. [2]
The new T408 (GE38-1B) is slated to power the new Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion three-engined helicopter for the US Marine Corps. It has a power rating of 7,500 shp. [10] The GE38 completed its first round of ground testing in May 2010. [11] Two test engines have completed over 1,000 hours of ground testing by November 2011. Five test engines will be used in the 5,000-hour test program. [12] In September 2019, GE delivered the first production T408 engine to the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) for the CH-53K. [13] GE also offered the engine to power the U.S. Navy's Ship-to-Shore Connector air-cushioned landing craft.
Data fromGE Aviation. [17]
Related development
Comparable engines
Related lists
A propfan, also called an open rotor engine, or unducted fan, is a type of aircraft engine related in concept to both the turboprop and turbofan, but distinct from both. The design is intended to offer the speed and performance of a turbofan, with the fuel economy of a turboprop. A propfan is typically designed with a large number of short, highly twisted blades, similar to a turbofan's bypass compressor. For this reason, the propfan has been variously described as an "unducted fan" (UDF) or an "ultra-high-bypass (UHB) turbofan."
The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is a turboprop aircraft engine produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada. Its design was started in 1958, it first ran in February 1960, first flew on 30 May 1961, entered service in 1964 and has been continuously updated since. It consists of two basic sections: a gas generator with accessory gearbox and a free power turbine with reduction gearbox, and is often seemingly mounted backwards in an aircraft in so far as the intake is at the rear and the exhaust at the front. Many variants of the PT6 have been produced, not only as turboprops but also as turboshaft engines for helicopters, land vehicles, hovercraft, and boats; as auxiliary power units; and for industrial uses. By November 2015, 51,000 had been produced, had logged 400 million flight hours from 1963 to 2016. It is known for its reliability with an in-flight shutdown rate of 1 per 651,126 hours in 2016. The PT6A covers the power range between 580 and 1,940 shp while the PT6B/C are turboshaft variants for helicopters.
The Rolls-Royce T406 is a turboshaft engine that powers the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. The engine delivers 6,000 shp (4,470 kW).
GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric, is headquartered in Evendale, Ohio, outside Cincinnati. GE Aviation is among the top aircraft engine suppliers, and offers engines for the majority of commercial aircraft. GE Aviation is part of the General Electric conglomerate, which is one of the world's largest corporations. The division operated under the name of General Electric Aircraft Engines (GEAE) until September 2005. GE Aviation's main competitors in the engine market are Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce.
A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaftpower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the exhaust and convert it into output shaft power. They are even more similar to turboprops, with only minor differences, and a single engine is often sold in both forms.
The Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100 aircraft engine family is a series of 1,800 to 5,000 shaft horsepower turboprops manufactured by Pratt & Whitney Canada. Pratt & Whitney Canada dominates the turboprops market with 89% of the turboprop regional airliner installed base in 2016, leading GE Aviation and Allison Engine Company.
The Allison T56 is an American single-shaft, modular design military turboprop with a 14-stage axial flow compressor driven by a four-stage turbine. It was originally developed by the Allison Engine Company for the Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport entering production in 1954. It has been a Rolls-Royce product since 1995 when Allison was acquired by Rolls-Royce. The commercial version is designated 501-D. Over 18,000 engines have been produced since 1954, logging over 200 million flying hours.
The General Electric GE36 was an experimental aircraft engine, a hybrid between a turbofan and a turboprop, known as an unducted fan (UDF) or propfan. The GE36 was developed by General Electric Aircraft Engines, with its CFM International equal partner Snecma taking a 35 percent share of development. Development was cancelled in 1989.
The Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion is a heavy-lift cargo helicopter produced by Sikorsky Aircraft for the United States Marine Corps. The King Stallion is an evolution of the long running CH-53 series of helicopters which have been in continuous service since 1966, and features three uprated 7,500 shp (5,590 kW) engines, new composite rotor blades, and a wider aircraft cabin than its predecessors. It is the largest and heaviest helicopter in the U.S. military. The Marine Corps plans to receive 200 helicopters at a total cost of $25 billion. Ground Test Vehicle (GTV) testing started in April 2014; flight testing began with the maiden flight on 27 October 2015. In May 2018, the first CH-53K was delivered to the Marine Corps. On 22 April 2022, it was declared to have passed initial operational capability.
The CFE738 is a small turbofan engine aimed at the business/commuter jet market manufactured by the CFE Company, and is used on the Dassault Falcon 2000.
The General Electric T700 and CT7 are a family of turboshaft and turboprop engines in the 1,500–3,000 shp (1,100–2,200 kW) class.
The General Electric T58 is an American turboshaft engine developed for helicopter use. First run in 1955, it remained in production until 1984, by which time some 6,300 units had been built. On July 1, 1959, it became the first turbine engine to gain FAA certification for civil helicopter use. The engine was license-built and further developed by de Havilland in the UK as the Gnome, in the West Germany by Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz, and also manufactured by Alfa Romeo and the IHI Corporation.
The General Electric T64 is a free-turbine turboshaft engine that was originally developed for use on helicopters, but which was later used on fixed-wing aircraft as well. General Electric introduced the engine in 1964. The original engine design included technical innovations such as corrosion resistant and high-temperature coatings. The engine features a high overall pressure ratio, yielding a low specific fuel consumption for its time. Although the compressor is all-axial, like the earlier General Electric T58, the power turbine shaft is coaxial with the HP shaft and delivers power to the front of the engine, not rearwards. Fourteen compressor stages are required to deliver the required overall pressure ratio. Compressor handling is facilitated by 4 rows of variable stators. Unlike the T58, the power turbine has 2 stages.
The Honeywell T55 is a turboshaft engine used on American helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft since the 1950s, and in unlimited hydroplanes since the 1980s. Today, there have been more than 6,000 of these engines built. It is produced by Honeywell Aerospace, a division of Honeywell based in Phoenix, Arizona, and was originally designed by the Turbine Engine Division of Lycoming Engines in Stratford, Connecticut, as a scaled-up version of the smaller Lycoming T53. Both engines are now produced by Honeywell Aerospace, and the T55 serves as the engine on several major applications including the CH-47-Chinook, the Bell 309, and the Piper PA-48 Enforcer. The T55 also serves as the core of the Lycoming ALF 502 turbofan. Since the T55 was first developed, progressive increases in airflow, overall pressure ratio, and turbine inlet temperature have more than tripled the power output of the engine.
The Allison T38 was an early turboprop engine developed by Allison Engine Company during the late 1940s. The T38 became the basis for the very successful family of Allison T56 turboprop engine.
The Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP), formerly the Advanced Affordable Turbine Engine (AATE) program, is a United States Army project to develop a General Electric T700 replacement for the UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache, improving fuel consumption, power, durability and cost. Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney formed the ATEC joint venture to develop the T900, while GE Aviation builds the T901. The US Army selected the GE T901 as the winner of the program in February 2019.
The Solar T62 Titan is an American gas turbine engine used mainly as a helicopter auxiliary power unit (APU), ground power generator or helicopter powerplant. A free power turbine version was developed as the Solar T66.
The Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE) is a US Army program for a 5,000-10,000-shp class turboshaft/turboprop for Future Vertical Lift aircraft and its Joint Multi Role precursor.
The General Electric T901 (GE3000) is a turboshaft engine in the 3,000 shp (2,200 kW) class currently under development for the United States Army's Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP). The ITEP plans after 2025 to re-engine over 1,300 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and more than 600 Boeing AH-64 Apache, and power the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft.
The Allison T56 turboprop engine has been developed extensively throughout its production run, the many variants are described by the manufacturer as belonging to four main series groups.
{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)