The Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour is a two-shaft low bypass

turbofan A turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a combination of references to the preceding generation engine technology of the turbojet and the add ...

aircraft engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbin ...

developed by Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Limited, a joint venture between

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

(UK) and Turbomeca (France). The engine is named after the

Adour The Adour (; ; ) is a river in southwestern France. It rises in High- Bigorre ( Pyrenees), in the commune of Aspin-Aure, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean ( Bay of Biscay) near Bayonne. It is long, of which the uppermost ca. is known as the ' ...

, a river in south western France.

History

The Adour is a turbofan engine developed primarily to power the Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar fighter-bomber, achieving its first successful test run in 1968. It is produced in versions with or without

reheat An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military aircraft, military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, ta ...

. As of July 2009 more than 2,800 Adours have been produced, for over 20 different armed forces with total flying hours reaching 8 million in December 2009. The U.S. military designation for this engine is the F405-RR-401 (a derivative of the Adour Mk 871), which is currently used to power the fleet of

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

T-45 Goshawk trainer jets of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

Variants

; Bench engines : Ten prototype engines were built for testing by both Rolls-Royce and Turbomeca. ; Flight development engines : Development engines for the Jaguar prototypes, 25 built.

Reheated (afterburning)

* Adour Mk 101 - First production variant for the Jaguar, 40 built. * Adour Mk 102 - Second production variant with the addition of part-throttle reheat. * Adour Mk 104 - Much more powerful version available in early 1980s, with higher operating temperature (700° vs 640), capable of about 5,500 lb. dry and 8,000 lb. with max A/B (static). While it was only marginally better in military thrust at take off, this engine improved the Jaguar’s low power-to weight ratio and enabled much better performance, with 10% more thrust at take off (with after burner engaged), and up to 27% more thrust in high subsonic cruise, helping the Jaguar in its typical flight envelope (low level, high speed attack). * Adour Mk 106 - Replacement for the Jaguar's Mk104 engine (developed from the Adour 871) with a reheat section. The RAF refitted its fleet with this engine as part of the GR3 upgrade. In May 2007, following the retirement of the last 16 Jaguars from No. 6 Squadron RAF, based at

RAF Coningsby Royal Air Force Coningsby or RAF Coningsby , is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located south-west of Horncastle, and north-west of Boston, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is a Main Operating Base of the RAF and h ...

, the Adour 106 has been phased out of RAF service. * Adour Mk 801 - For Mitsubishi F-1 & T-2 ( JASDF) * TF40-IHI-801A - Licence-built version of Mk 801 by Ishikawajima-Harima for Mitsubishi F-1 & T-2 (JASDF) * Adour Mk 804 - Licence-built by HAL for Indian Air Force phase 2 Jaguars * Adour Mk 811 - Licence-built by HAL for Indian Air Force phase 3 to 6 Jaguars; rated at 8400 lbs of maximum thrus

BAe-built Jaguars were initially powered with two Adour 804E turbofans. * Adour Mk 821 - Engine upgrade of Mk804 and Mk811 engines, was under development for the Indian Air Force Jaguar aircraft.

Dry (non-afterburning)

* Adour Mk 151-01 Used by the Royal Air Force training aircraft fleet * Adour Mk 151-02 - Used by the Red Arrows * Adour Mk 851 * Adour Mk 861 * Adour Mk 871 - Used by Hawk 200 * F405-RR-401 - Similar configuration to Mk 871, for US Navy T-45 Goshawk. * Adour Mk 951 - Designed for the latest versions of the BAE Hawk and powering the BAE Taranis and Dassault nEUROn UCAV technology demonstrators. The Adour Mk 951 is a more fundamental redesign than the Adour Mk 106, with improved performance (rated at thrust) and up to twice the service life of the 871. It features an all-new fan and combustor, revised HP and LP turbines, and introduces Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC). The Mk 951 was certified in 2005. * F405-RR-402 - Upgrade of F405-RR-401, incorporating Mk 951 technology, certified 2008. Did not enter into service due to funding issues.

Higher bypass

* A high-bypass engine built around the core of the Adour and intended as a Spey replacement was developed by Rolls-Royce in 1967 as the Rolls-Royce RB.203 Trent.

Applications

* Aermacchi MB-338 (not-built) * BAE Hawk * BAE Taranis (UCAV development aircraft) * Dassault nEUROn (UCAV development aircraft) * McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk * SEPECAT Jaguar

Licence-built

; Ishikawajima-Harima TF40-IHI-801A * Mitsubishi F-1 * Mitsubishi T-2

Engines on display

* A Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour is on public display at the

City of Norwich Aviation Museum The City of Norwich Aviation Museum is a volunteer-run museum and charitable trust dedicated to the preservation of the aviation history of the county of Norfolk, England. The museum is located on the northern edge of Norwich International ...

in Horsham St Faith, Norfolk. * A Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour Mk.151-01 is on display at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum,

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

. The engine is displayed alongside an ex-RAF Hawk T.1 ''XX238''.

Specifications (Adour Mk 106)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *

External links

RAF Jaguar Specs

{{USAF gas turbine engines Low-bypass turbofan engines

1960s turbofan engines France–United Kingdom military relations