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Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for aviation and other industries. Rolls-Royce is the world's second-largest maker of
aircraft engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years ma ...
s (after
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...
) and has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Rolls-Royce was the world's 16th largest defence contractor in 2018 when measured by defence revenues. Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange, where it is a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100  companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest marke ...
. At the close of London trading on 28 August 2019, the company had a
market capitalisation Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...
of £4.656bn, the 85th-largest of any company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange. The company's registered office is at
Kings Place Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space. It has housed the editorial offices of '' The Guardian'' newspaper since December 2008 and is the ...
, near Kings Cross in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.


History


Ownership

Rolls-Royce grew from the engineering business of
Henry Royce Sir Frederick Henry Royce, 1st Baronet, (27 March 1863 – 22 April 1933) was an English engineer famous for his designs of car and aeroplane engines with a reputation for reliability and longevity. With Charles Rolls (1877–1910) and Claude ...
which was established in 1884 and ten years later began to manufacture dynamos and electric cranes.
Charles Rolls Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident wit ...
established a separate business with Royce in 1904 because Royce had developed a range of cars which Rolls wanted to sell. A corporate owner was incorporated in 1906 with the name
Rolls-Royce Limited Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his cranes, they ...
. In 1971 the same company, Rolls-Royce Limited, entered voluntary liquidation because it was unable to meet its financial obligations. It remains in existence today, still in liquidation. Its business and assets were bought by the government using a company created for the purpose named Rolls-Royce (1971) Limited. Rolls-Royce Motors was separated out in 1973. Rolls-Royce (1971) Limited currently carries on the business under the name Rolls-Royce plc. Rolls-Royce plc returned to the stock market in 1987 under the government of
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
. In 2003 ownership of Rolls-Royce plc was passed to Rolls-Royce Group plc. In the same way, Rolls-Royce Group plc passed ownership on 23 May 2011 to Rolls-Royce Holdings plc.Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, Annual Report 2011
accessed 27 January 2017
Throughout these corporate changes Rolls-Royce plc has remained the principal trading company. ;Companies with shares available to the general public * 1906 company, Rolls-Royce Limited. Its shares became more or less valueless in 1971 and their price sank as low as a penny from a high of £1.25. :By the time the liquidation was effectively complete those shareholders had received more than £0.60 per share from the liquidation and they may have bought them for around a penny. * 1971 company, floated as Rolls-Royce plc still owns the principal business but itself was sold to the new holding company in 2003 * 2003 company floated as Rolls-Royce Group plc bought the 1971 company * 2011 company floated as Rolls-Royce Holdings plc bought the 1971 company from the 2003 company


Growth

The 1980s saw the introduction of a policy to offer an engine fitment on a much wider range of civil aircraft types, with the company's engines now powering 17 different airliners (and their variants) compared to
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...
's 14 and
Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially airlines) and military av ...
's 10. The civil engines business represents the company's main area of growth. Between 2010 and 2018, Rolls-Royce invested £11 billion in facilities and R&D and launched six new civil engines including the Trent XWB and the
Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...
15 for the business aviation market. It secured orders for 2,700 engines for wide-body aircraft and
business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pu ...
s. It expects to produce over 600 wide-body engines a year and should power over half of the world's wide-body fleet within a few years, up from 22% a decade before.


Restructuring

In February 2017 Rolls-Royce posted its largest ever pre-tax loss of £4.6 billion; This included a £4.4 billion writedown on financial hedges that the company uses to protect itself against currency fluctuations, and a £671 million penalty to settle bribery and corruption charges with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the US Department of Justice, and Brazilian authorities. On 14 June 2018 the company announced a restructuring of the business to create three simpler
decentralised Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...
units ( civil aerospace,
defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...
and power systems), to rationalise back office functions and to remove
middle management Middle management is the intermediate management level of a hierarchical organization that is subordinate to the executive management and responsible for ‘team leading’ line managers and/or ‘specialist’ line managers. Middle management is i ...
functions. The cost savings should amount to £400 million per year by 2020, with an up-front restructuring cost of £500 million. Some 4,600 people are likely to leave the business out of 55,000 employed worldwide, 3,000 job losses from the UK and the rest from elsewhere in the world (15,700 of the employees work in
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
and 10,300 work elsewhere in the United Kingdom). In August 2018 Rolls-Royce announced it was taking a charge of £554 million to cover faults with some Trent 1000 engines on
Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American Wide-body aircraft, wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Boeing Sonic Cruiser, Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced th ...
s. Rather than going thousands of hours between inspections, the faults with turbine blades mean the engines currently require inspection every 300 hours of flight. In the same announcement Rolls-Royce said it would spend £450m fixing faults on the Trent 1000 in 2018, £450m in 2019 and £350m in 2020, with the work complete by 2022. In May 2020, the company announced its intention to cut 20% of its workforce (approximately 9,000 staff) worldwide as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Around 3,000 job losses were expected in the UK, half of them in Derby. In February 2021, Rolls-Royce started talks concerning an operational shutdown of its civil aerospace unit that might last for two weeks due to the impact of Covid-19 and its restrictions.


Facilities


Testing

Rolls-Royce's £90 million
test bed A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computational tools, and new technologies. The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental res ...
80 will be the largest of its kind, sized for engines of up to of thrust. Design started in 2017, construction began in 2018 and it should be commissioned by mid-2020. The facility is long, has a tall intake tower and a tall exhaust stack. Built from 3,450 tons of steel and of concrete, it has a tall and wide enclosed space and it can handle a 66 tons engine including its carrier.
X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10  nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
imaging allows to visualize the position of seals and clearances in real time while an engine is running. While it was retrofitted on Rolls' test bed 57, test bed 80 is the first to be purpose-designed for
industrial radiography Industrial radiography is a modality of non-destructive testing that uses ionizing radiation to inspect materials and components with the objective of locating and quantifying defects and degradation in material properties that would lead to the ...
. To protect from external X-ray like 30 cm (11.8 in.) of
lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...
, double walls are up to 8.9 ft. (2.7 m) thick (a 5.6-ft. interior wall and 3.3-ft. exterior wall) and provide acoustic insulation. Canadian prime contractor MDS Aero Support is responsible for design and management, test systems supply, engine adapters, support systems and data acquisition and control while construction is done by
Buckingham Group Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd is a construction company located near Stowe, between Buckingham and Silverstone in north Buckinghamshire which operates throughout England and Wales. Established originally in 1955 as Buckingham Plant Hire, it i ...
Contracting.


Acquisitions

;Northern Engineering Industries / broken up and sold In 1988, Rolls-Royce acquired
Northern Engineering Industries Northern Engineering Industries plc (NEI) was a British engineering firm, which for over 10 years was one of the largest employers on Tyneside. Its headquarters were based at the Regent Centre at Gosforth in Newcastle upon Tyne. History The com ...
(NEI), based in the North East of England, a group of heavy engineering companies mainly associated with electrical generation and power management. The group included Clarke Chapman (cranes), Reyrolle (now part of
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...
) and Parsons (now part of Siemens steam turbines). The company was renamed Rolls-Royce Industrial Power Group. It was sold off piecemeal over the next decade as the company re-focused on its core aero-engine operations following the recession of the early 1990s. ;Allison Engine Company/Rolls-Royce Corporation On 21 November 1994, Rolls-Royce announced its intention to acquire the Allison Engine Company, an American manufacturer of gas turbines and components for aviation, industrial and marine engines.Lazonick, William & Prencipe, Andrea.
Sustaining the Innovation Process: The Case of Rolls-Royce plc
page 18. Retrieved 18 September 2010
Archive
/ref> The two companies had a technical association dating back to the Second World War. Rolls-Royce had previously tried to buy the company when
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
sold it in 1993, but GM opted for a management buyout instead for $370 million. Owing to Allison's involvement in classified and export restricted technology, the 1994 acquisition was subject to investigation to determine the national security implications.Ashbourne, Alex
Opening the US Defence Market
''Centre for European Reform'' page 6, October 2000. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
On 27 March 1995, the US Department of Defense announced that the ''"deal between Allison Engine Co. and Rolls-Royce does not endanger national security."''DoD is satisfied that deal between Allison Engine Co. and Rolls Royce does not endanger national security
''
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...
'', 27 March 1995. Retrieved 3 October 2012
Archived
on 14 October 2013.
Rolls-Royce was, however, obliged to set up a proxy board to manage Allison and had also to set up a separate company, Allison Advanced Development Company, Inc., to manage classified programmes ''"that involve leading-edge technologies"'' such as the Joint Strike Fighter programme. In 2000, this restriction was replaced by a more flexible
Special Security Arrangement A proxy board is a requirement imposed under a Proxy Agreement by the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Security Service on foreign investors seeking to acquire certain American companies. This is for national security reasons and applies mainl ...
.Lorell et a
Going Global?
page 175, ''
RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is finance ...
'', 2002. Retrieved 18 September 2010
Archive
/ref> In 2001, Rolls-Royce and its LiftSystem was among the group that won the JSF contract for the F-35.Bolkcom, Christopher
JSF: Background, Status, and Issues
page CRS-4, ''dtic.mil'', 16 June 2003. Retrieved 18 September 2010
Archive
/ref> The Allison acquisition, at $525 million (equivalent to £328 million), brought four new engine types into the Rolls-Royce civil engine portfolio on seven platforms and several light aircraft applications. Allison is now known as Rolls-Royce Corporation, part of
Rolls-Royce North America Rolls-Royce North America, Inc. is a subsidiary of multinational corporation Rolls-Royce plc. The American unit operates under a Special Security Arrangement which allows it to work independently on some of the most sensitive United States def ...
. ;Vickers/Vinters In 1999 Rolls-Royce acquired Vickers plc for its marine businesses. The portion retained is now Vinters Engineering Limited. Rolls-Royce sold Vickers Defence Systems (the other major Vickers area of business) to
Alvis plc Alvis PLC was created when United Scientific Holdings plc acquired the Alvis division of the nationalised vehicle manufacturer British Leyland in 1981. United Scientific maintained its own name until 1992 when the group was renamed Alvis plc. ...
in 2002. ;BMW joint venture / Rolls-Royce Deutschland Rolls-Royce has established a leading position in the corporate and
regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...
sector through the development of the Tay engine, the Allison acquisition and the consolidation of the
BMW Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce Deutschland is a subsidiary of British aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce plc. Its primarily facilities are located at Dahlewitz outside Berlin and Motorenfabrik Oberursel at Oberursel near Frankfurt am Main. The company was former ...
joint venture. In 1999, BMW Rolls-Royce was renamed Rolls-Royce Deutschland and became a 100% owned subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc. ;SAIC joint venture / Optimized Systems and Solutions Optimized Systems and Solutions Limited (formerly known as Data Systems & Solutions) was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between Rolls-Royce plc and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). In early 2006, SAIC exited the joint venture agreement, making Rolls-Royce plc the sole owner. ;Tognum joint venture with Daimler / Rolls-Royce Power Systems Holding GmbH In March 2011, Rolls-Royce and
Daimler AG The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactu ...
launched a $4.2 billion public tender offer for 100 per cent of the share capital of Tognum AG, the owner of
MTU Friedrichshafen MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH is a German manufacturer of commercial internal combustion engines founded by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach in 1909. Wilhelm Maybach was the technical director of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG), a prede ...
– a leading high-speed industrial and marine diesel engine manufacturer, which was completed using a 50:50 joint venture company. Rolls-Royce and Daimler AG intend that the joint venture company, which also now incorporates Rolls-Royce's existing Bergen engine business, is listed on the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (german: link=no, Börse Frankfurt, former German name – FWB) is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time). Organisation Loca ...
. ;Aero Engine Controls / Rolls-Royce Controls and Data Services Following the acquisition of Goodrich by
United Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation (UTC) was an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut. It researched, developed, and manufactured products in numerous areas, including aircraft engines, aerospace systems ...
in July 2012, Rolls-Royce announced it would purchase Goodrich's 50% share of
Aero Engine Controls Aero Engine Controls is the former name of Rolls-Royce Controls and Data Services. The company produces engine control software, electronic engine controls (EEC), fuel metering units (FMU), fuel pumps and engine actuators for a large number of ...
to become wholly owned by Rolls-Royce. At the June 2019
Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the Frenc ...
, Rolls-Royce announced its acquisition of Siemens' electric propulsion branch (while they are partners on the E-Fan X demonstrator), to be completed in late 2019, employing 180 in Germany and Hungary.


Divestment


Siemens

In May 2014, Rolls-Royce sold its energy gas turbine and compressor business to Siemens for £785 million.


Kongsberg

In July 2018, Rolls-Royce sold its commercial marine business to
Kongsberg Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms produ ...
for £500 million.


Nuclear services businesses

In September 2019, Rolls-Royce agreed to sell its civil nuclear services businesses in the U.S., Canada, Mondragon France, and Gateshead UK to the Westinghouse Electric Company for an undisclosed sum. These businesses had a revenue of $70 million and about 500 employees in 2018. Rolls-Royce is keeping its nuclear new build and small modular reactor (SMR) business in the UK. In November 2020, the company announced plans to build up to 16
Rolls-Royce SMR The Rolls-Royce SMR, also known as the UK SMR, is a small modular reactor (SMR) being developed by the Rolls-Royce (RR) company in the United Kingdom. The company has been given financial support by the UK Government to develop its design. It i ...
nuclear plants across the UK, continuing its nuclear division operations. In December 2020 Rolls-Royce announced it would sell other foreign parts of its civil nuclear instrumentation and control business to Framatome as part of its post-COVID recovery plan, completing the deal involving over 550 employees in November 2021.


Major sales

;Airbus A380 In 1996, Rolls-Royce and
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...
signed a memorandum of understanding, specifying the Trent 900 as the engine of choice for the then A3XX, now the
Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...
. In 2011, Rolls-Royce faced questions concerning incidents with its Trent 900 Turbofan used to power the Airbus A380 aircraft. One of the engines suffered a partial power loss during a
Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...
flight in February 2011. This followed an incident in November 2010 in which an engine disintegrated in flight causing Qantas Flight 32 to make an emergency landing in Singapore. The aircraft was extensively damaged and the airline grounded its fleet of A380s. The problem was traced to a fatigue crack in an oil pipe requiring the replacement of some engines and modifications to the design. Trent-powered A380s operated by
Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...
and
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines ( abbreviation: SIA) is the flag carrier airline of the Republic of Singapore with its hub located at Singapore Changi Airport. The airline is notable for highlighting the Singapore Girl as its central figure in corporat ...
were also affected. Qantas gradually returned its A380s to service over several months. In June 2011 the airline announced it had agreed to compensation of US$100m from Rolls-Royce. On 17 April 2015, it was announced that Rolls-Royce had received its largest order to date worth £6.1bn ($9.2bn) to supply engines for 50 Emirates A380 planes. ;Boeing On 6 April 2004,
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...
announced that it had selected both Rolls-Royce and General Electric to power its new 787. Rolls-Royce submitted the
Trent 1000 The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 is a high-bypass turbofan engine produced by Rolls-Royce plc, one of the two engine options for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, competing with the General Electric GEnx. It first ran on 14 February 2006 and first flew on ...
, a further development of that series. ;Airbus A350 In July 2006, Rolls-Royce reached an agreement to supply a new version of the Trent for the revised Airbus A350 (XWB) jetliner. This engine, the Trent XWB is an engine developed from the
Trent 1000 The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 is a high-bypass turbofan engine produced by Rolls-Royce plc, one of the two engine options for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, competing with the General Electric GEnx. It first ran on 14 February 2006 and first flew on ...
, a variant of which was offered for the original A350 proposal. As of July 2015, over 1,500 engines of this type have been supplied to 40 customers. In October 2006, Rolls-Royce suspended production of its Trent 900 engine because of delays by Airbus on the delivery of the
A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...
superjumbo. Rolls-Royce announced in October 2007 that production of the Trent 900 had been restarted after a twelve-month suspension caused by delays to the A380. ;Panavia Tornado, Eurofighter Typhoon and Lightning II On the military side, Rolls-Royce, in co-operation with other European manufacturers, has been a major contractor for the
RB199 The Turbo-Union RB199 is a turbofan jet engine designed and built in the early 1970s by Turbo-Union, a joint venture between Rolls-Royce, MTU and Aeritalia. The only production application was the Panavia Tornado. Design and development ...
which in several variants powers the
Panavia Tornado The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (inte ...
, and also for the
EJ200 The Eurojet EJ200 is a military low-bypass turbofan used as the powerplant of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The engine is largely based on the Rolls-Royce XG-40 technology demonstrator, which was developed in the 1980s. The EJ200 is built by the ...
engine for the Eurofighter Typhoon. Rolls-Royce has matured the
Rolls-Royce LiftSystem The Rolls-Royce LiftSystem, together with the F135 engine, is an aircraft propulsion system designed for use in the STOVL variant of the F-35 Lightning II. The complete system, known as the Integrated Lift Fan Propulsion System (ILFPS), was a ...
invented by
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
for the F-35 Lightning II to production level; The F-35 is planned to be produced in significant numbers. ;Air China At the 2005
Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the Frenc ...
, Rolls-Royce secured in excess of $1 billion worth of orders. The firm received $800m worth of orders from
Air China Air China Limited () is the flag carrier of the People's Republic of China and one of the "Big Three" mainland Chinese airlines (alongside China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines). Air China's headquarters are in Shunyi District ...
to supply its 20 Airbus A330 jets. ;Qatar Airways On 18 June 2007, Rolls-Royce announced at the 2007 Paris Air Show that it had signed its biggest ever contract with Qatar Airways for the Trent XWB to power 80 A350s on order from Airbus worth $5.6 billion at list prices. On 11 November 2007, another large contract was announced at the
Dubai Airshow The Dubai Airshow ( ar, معرض دبي للطيران) is a biennial air show held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in ...
from
Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country * Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir ** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf ** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual emirates * The Emirat ...
for Trent XWBs to power 50 A350-900 and 20 A350-1000 aircraft with 50 option rights. Due to be delivered from 2014, the order is potentially worth up to 8.4 billion US Dollars at list prices, including options. On 20 November 2007, Rolls-Royce announced plans to build its first Asian aero engine facility in the Seletar Aerospace Park, Singapore. The $562m (£355m) plant complements its existing facility at Derby by concentrating on the assembly and testing of large civil engines, including Trent 1000 and Trent XWB. Productivity will be higher than at Derby, as the plant is fully integrated, as opposed to manufacturing occurring across five sites in the UK: a Trent 900 will take only 14 days to manufacture, as opposed to 20 in the UK. Originally expected to provide employment for 330 people, by the start of production in 2012, 1,600 employees were based in Singapore. ;Nuclear submarines In May 2012,
Rolls-Royce Marine Power Operations Rolls-Royce Submarines, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc, operates three sites licensed to handle nuclear material, two of which are at Raynesway in Derby, and the other at Vulcan Nuclear Reactor Testing Establishment (NRTE), Dounreay, UK. The ...
won a Ministry of Defence contract worth more than £400 million for the integration of the reactor design, the PWR3, for UK's next generation nuclear-armed submarines.


Corruption allegations

Rolls-Royce has been accused numerous times of corrupt practices and
bribery Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Cor ...
. Most recently, in 2014, facing allegations of bribery in the aftermath of the Sudhir Choudhrie affair, Rolls-Royce offered to return money to the Indian government. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) also investigated allegations of bribery in Indonesia and China. In February 2015 Rolls-Royce was accused of bribing an employee of Brazil's state-controlled oil company to win a $100 million contract to provide gas turbines for oil platforms. In October 2016 a joint ''Guardian'' and BBC investigation alleged widespread corruption by Rolls-Royce through middlemen in foreign countries including Brazil, India, China, Indonesia, South Africa, Angola, Iraq, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. Rolls-Royce became subject to a major SFO investigation.


Alleged defects

In 2013 media reported allegations from two American ex-employees that thousands of the company's new jet engines were assembled with used parts.


Settlement with SFO

In January 2017 Rolls-Royce came to an agreement with the SFO to pay £671 million under a deferred prosecution agreement to avoid prosecution for bribery to obtain export contracts. As part of this agreement, a $170 million fine was paid to US authorities to end a bribery investigation, and $25 million to the Brazilian authorities. Subsequent to the settlement, ''
Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent critici ...
'' reported that some of Rolls-Royce's contracts under the scope of the SFO investigation had been supported by the British government's UK Export Finance department, using taxpayers' money. The government department underwrote multimillion-pound liabilities under Rolls-Royce contracts secured with the help of bribes and "facilitation" commissions. It has also been highlighted in the press that Rolls-Royce's auditor since 1995,
KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
, had failed to identify any corrupt practices throughout the 1990s and 2000s. This is notable considering judge
Brian Leveson Sir Brian Henry Leveson (; born 22 June 1949) is a retired English judge who served as the President of the Queen's Bench Division and Head of Criminal Justice. Leveson chaired the public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the ...
's statement that Rolls-Royce's offending was "multi-jurisdictional, numerous", "persistent and spanned from 1989 until 2013", and it "involved substantial funds being made available to fund bribe payments".


Governance

the
board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit orga ...
consists of: * Sir Ian Davis, Chairman * Warren East, Chief Executive * Panos Kakoullis, Chief Financial Officer * Paul Adams, Independent Non-Executive Director * George Culmer, Independent Non-Executive Director * Irene Dorner, Independent Non-Executive Director * Anita Frew, Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair Designate * Beverly Goulet, Independent Non-Executive Director * Lee Hsien Yang, Independent Non-Executive Director * Nick Luff, Independent Non-Executive Director * Sir Kevin Smith, Senior Independent Director * Dame Angela Strank, Independent Non-Executive Director * Pamela Coles, Company Secretary and Chief Governance Officer


Products

Rolls-Royce's aerospace business makes commercial and military gas turbine engines for military, civil, and corporate aircraft customers worldwide. In the United States, the company makes engines for regional and corporate jets,
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...
s, and
turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...
aircraft. Rolls-Royce also constructs and installs power generation systems. Its core gas turbine technology has created one of the broadest product ranges of aero-engines in the world, with 50,000 engines in service with 500 airlines, 2,400 corporate and utility operators and more than 100 armed forces, powering both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.
Rolls-Royce Marine Power Operations Rolls-Royce Submarines, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc, operates three sites licensed to handle nuclear material, two of which are at Raynesway in Derby, and the other at Vulcan Nuclear Reactor Testing Establishment (NRTE), Dounreay, UK. The ...
(a subsidiary company) manufactures and tests
nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...
s for Royal Naval
submarines A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
.


Aerospace

In 2019, Rolls-Royce delivered 510 Trent powerplants, while 5,029 large engines were installed, including 32%
Trent 700 The Rolls-Royce Trent 700 is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc to power the Airbus A330. Rolls-Royce was studying a RB211 development for the A330 at its launch in June 1987. It was first selected by Cathay Pacific in April ...
s. For
business jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pu ...
s,
research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
in the
market niche A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused. The market niche defines the product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that it ...
s is a $2 billion annual investment, for a predicted market of 8,500 to 9,000 aircraft over the 2020 decade.


Turbojets

* Rolls-Royce Avon *
Rolls-Royce Viper The Armstrong Siddeley Viper is a British turbojet engine developed and produced by Armstrong Siddeley and then by its successor companies Bristol Siddeley and Rolls-Royce Limited. It entered service in 1953 and remained in use with the Royal ...
*
Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 The Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 was an Anglo-French turbojet with reheat (afterburners), which powered the supersonic airliner Concorde. It was initially a joint project between Bristol Siddeley Engines Limited (BSEL) and Snecma, derive ...
*
Rolls-Royce RB162 The Rolls-Royce RB.162 is a lightweight British turbojet engine produced by Rolls-Royce Limited. Developed in the early 1960s, it was specially designed for use as a lift engine for VTOL aircraft but was also used in a later variant of the Ha ...


Turbofans

*
Eurojet EJ200 The Eurojet EJ200 is a military low-bypass turbofan used as the powerplant of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The engine is largely based on the Rolls-Royce XG-40 technology demonstrator, which was developed in the 1980s. The EJ200 is built by the ...
* General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 (not developed) * International Aero Engines V2500 *
Rolls-Royce AE 3007 The Rolls-Royce AE 3007 (US military: F137) is a turbofan engine produced by Rolls-Royce North America, sharing a common core with the Rolls-Royce T406 (AE 1107) and AE 2100. The engine was originally developed by the Allison Engine Company, he ...
*
Rolls-Royce BR700 The Rolls-Royce BR700 family of turbofan engines for regional jets and corporate jets. It was developed by BMW and Rolls-Royce plc through the joint venture BMW Rolls-Royce AeroEngines GmbH, established in 1990. The BR710 first ran in 1995. I ...
* Rolls-Royce Conway * Rolls-Royce RB211 *
Rolls-Royce RB282 The Rolls-Royce RB282 is a new series of twin-spool turbofan engines under development by Rolls-Royce plc, Rolls-Royce. The first variant of this engine was intended to power the future Dassault Falcon 5X super mid-sized business jet, the re ...
(not developed) * Rolls-Royce Spey * Rolls-Royce Tay * Rolls-Royce Pegasus *
Rolls-Royce Trent The Rolls-Royce Trent is a family of high-bypass turbofans produced by Rolls-Royce. It continues the three spool architecture of the RB211 with a maximum thrust ranging from . Launched as the RB-211-524L in June 1988, the prototype first ...
* Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour * Turbo-Union RB199


Turboshafts

* LHTEC T800 (with
Honeywell Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...
) * MTR390 (with MTU and Turbomeca) * Rolls-Royce Gem * Rolls-Royce Model 250 *
Rolls-Royce RR300 The Rolls-Royce RR300 is a turbine aircraft engine (turboshaft/turboprop) developed for the light helicopter/general aviation market. Rated at up to 300 shp (224 kW) at take-off power, the RR300 is a rebadged and downrated variant of the ...
* Rolls-Royce RR500 * Rolls-Royce T406/AE 1107C-Liberty * Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM322


Turboprops

* Europrop TP400-D6 (as part of
Europrop International Europrop International (EPI) GmbH is a consortium set up in 2002 in the form of a company governed by German law, by the four main European aircraft engine manufacturers, MTU Aero Engines, Safran Aircraft Engines, Rolls-Royce and ITP Aero. EPI ...
) * Rolls-Royce AE 2100 * Rolls-Royce T56


Rocket engines

* Larch *
RB545 HOTOL, for Horizontal Take-Off and Landing, was a 1980s British design for a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) spaceplane that was to be powered by an airbreathing jet engine. Development was being conducted by a consortium led by Rolls-Royce and Br ...
( HOTOL) * RZ.2


Marine


Gas turbines

* AG9140 * MT7 * MT30 * MT50 * RR4500 * Spey SM1A and improved SM1C * Olympus TM1, TM1A and improved TM3B * Tyne RM1A and improved RM1C * WR-21


Propulsion

* Kamewa and Bird-Johnson Waterjets * Kamewa Tunnel thruster *
MerMaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...
pod propulsion * Ulstein Aquamaster Azimuth thruster * Rolls-Royce MTU Engines


Submarine

* Nato Submarine Rescue System * PWR1 reactor * PWR2 reactor * PWR3 reactor * Zebra (battery)


Stabilizers

* Brown Brothers Legacy Stabilizers * Brown Brothers Neptune or VM Stabilizers * Brown Brothers Aquarius Stabilizers


See also

*
Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom The aerospace industry of the United Kingdom is the second-largest national aerospace industry in the world (after the United States) and the largest in Europe by turnover, with a global market share of 17% in 2019. In 2020, the industry employed ...
* GE Aviation, competing engine manufacturer *
Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially airlines) and military av ...
, competing engine manufacturer *
Power by the Hour Aircraft maintenance is the performance of tasks required to ensure the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft or aircraft part, including overhaul, inspection, replacement, defect rectification, and the embodiment of modifications, compliance w ...


References


Notes


Bibliography

* Gunston, Bill. ''Development of Piston Aero Engines''. Cambridge, UK. Patrick Stephens Limited, 2006. . * Newhouse, John. ''The Sporty Game: The High-Risk Competitive Business of Making and Selling Commercial Airliners.'' New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982. . * Pugh, Peter. ''The Magic of a Name: The Rolls-Royce Story, The First 40 Years''. London: Icon Books, 2000. . * Pugh, Peter. ''The Magic of a Name: The Rolls-Royce Story, Part 2, The Power Behind the Jets''. London: Icon Books, 2001. . * Pugh, Peter. ''The Magic of a Name: The Rolls-Royce Story, Part 3, A Family of Engines''. London: Icon Books, 2002. .


Footnotes


External links

*
Rolls-Royce's annual report archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolls-Royce Plc Technology companies established in 1906 Manufacturing companies established in 1906 British companies established in 1906 1906 establishments in England Aerospace companies of the United Kingdom Aircraft engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom Gas turbine manufacturers Defence companies of the United Kingdom Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Rolls-Royce British brands Manufacturing companies based in London Holding companies established in 2003 Holding companies of the United Kingdom Collier Trophy recipients Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom Marine engine manufacturers