The MTU Turbomeca Rolls-Royce MTR390 is a

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 ...

developed for light helicopter applications by

MTU Turbomeca Rolls-Royce MTU Turbomeca Rolls-Royce GmbH (MTR) is a multinational engine manufacturer established to develop, manufacture, and service the MTR390 turboshaft engine. It is a joint venture by three European aero-engine manufacturers, Germany's MTU Aero Eng ...

(MTR). The engine is designed to power helicopters in the weight range of 5-7 tonnes in both single and twin engine configurations. So far the only application is the

Eurocopter Tiger The Eurocopter Tiger is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter which first entered service in 2003. It is manufactured by Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter), which arose from the merger of Aérospatiale's and DASA's respective helico ...

. Test runs of the MTR390 began in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

and the first test flight was performed in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

. The MTR390 received military certification in May

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and civil approval in June

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. An uprated version, the MTR390-E (Enhanced), is being developed with Spain's ITP.

Variants

;MTR390-2C :Production engine ;MTR390-E :Enhanced variant under development

Applications

Specifications (MTR390)

References

External links

Official company page

Rolls-Royce MTR390 page

Turbomeca MTR390 page

ITP MTR390-E page
(PDF file in English and Spanish) {{Joint development aeroengines 1980s turboshaft engines Centrifugal-flow gas turbine engines

Variants

Applications

Specifications (MTR390)

See also

References

External links