The Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE) is a

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

program for a 5,000-10,000-shp class

turboshaft A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaft horsepower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the ex ...

turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...

for

Future Vertical Lift Future Vertical Lift (FVL) is a plan to develop a family of military helicopters for the United States Armed Forces. Five different sizes of aircraft are to be developed, sharing common hardware such as sensors, avionics, engines, and counterm ...

aircraft and its ''Joint Multi Role'' precursor.

Design

To extend

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

and

endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, forbearance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, persistence, tenacity, steadfastness, perseverance, stamina, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a ...

and to increase

hot-and-high In aviation, hot and high is a condition of low air density due to high ambient temperature and high airport elevation. Air density decreases with increasing temperature and altitude. The lower air density reduces the power output from an aircra ...

payload and performance, it should reduce BSFC by 35%, reduce production/maintenance costs by 45%, improve power-to-weight by 80% and

design life The design life of a component or product is the period of time during which the item is expected by its designers to work within its specified parameters; in other words, the life expectancy of the item. Engineers follow a theory to calculate th ...

by 20% to more than 6,000 hours.

Development

In November 2011, GE was selected for $45 million over five years, to develop technologies including advanced aerodynamics, cooling configurations and improved materials; and rig tests to validate innovative components, leading up to a full system demonstration. In 2017, following the successful tests of the engine’s

compressor A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor. Many compressors can be staged, that is, the gas is compressed several times in steps o ...

with the highest single-spool pressure ratio recorded,

combustor A combustor is a component or area of a gas turbine, ramjet, or scramjet engine where combustion takes place. It is also known as a burner, burner can, combustion chamber or flame holder. In a gas turbine engine, the ''combustor'' or combustion ...

with GE's most extensive use of CMCs allowing unprecedented high-temperature capability and weight reduction, and

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

rig tests, the first assembled engine completed testing after running 40 hours, reaching the program goals, before a second prototype began testing in 2018.

References

{{reflist Aircraft engines Turboshaft engines

Design

Development

See also

References