On the Record with COLIN GREEN, PRESIDENT, ROLLS-ROYCE DEFENCE AEROSPACE
Snecma and MTU are being "cautious" when they say in
public they don't expect to make much money from the TP400 engine
for the Airbus A400M military transport. "To put it in perspective,
it's not a bonanza program, but equally it's a program that should
generate a sensible return for its shareholders," says Colin
Green, president of Rolls-Royce Defence Aerospace.
"I expect to make a return commensurate with the rest of
my military business," he told Show News-a return that is currently
in excess of 13%, with the defense business earning a profit of
$298 million in 2002 on sales of $2.2 billion.
Why is his outlook so different?
"Perhaps I'm a little more optimistic about our ability to
manage the program than they are," he joked. "To be fair
to both my colleagues, the program is tight both commercially and
programatically, so it's going to require first-class management
on both the commercial and technical sides."
Rolls-Royce, Snecma and MTU each have a 28% share in the EPI Europrop
consortium that will develop the engine, and the remainder is held
by Industria de Turbo Propulsores (ITP). Green praised EPI's new
managing director Günter Kappler for his track record of program
management, and noted the chief engineer will be Rolls's own Rob
Sellick, fresh from developing the Trent 500 for the Airbus A340-500/600.
"We are deploying our very best human engineering assets to
the program," Green said.
The TP400 program calls for 750 engines worth an initial $2.3
billion, with entry into service in 2009. At 11,000 shp, it will
be the most powerful turboprop ever built in the West.
No other turboprop applications are foreseen for the engine, but
Green noted the core could provide the basis for a Eurotrainer engine
to replace the Adour, or the powerplant for a medium sized UAV,
if married to purpose-designed low-pressure compressor and turbine
systems.
By John Morris
No Military Slowdown for Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce's defense factories are as busy as they have
ever been, says president Colin Green.
"In fact Rolls-Royce is the only engine company on
both significant new fighter programs in the world today:
Eurofighter Typhoon and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter,"
he noted.
Eurofighter Typhoon has just entered production, and some
1,500 EJ200 engines ultimately will be needed for the planned
production run of 620 aircraft.
International customers for JSF have made it clear they
prefer a choice of engines, support that should ensure continued
funding for the alternate GE/Rolls-Royce F136 powerplant,
Green said. Rolls also developed and provides all the STOVL
(short takeoff/vertical landing) components for the Pratt
& Whitney F135 engine selected as prime powerplant for
the aircraft. The U.S. and the UK are expected to buy 3,000
F-35s, and the export potential could be as high as another
2,000 aircraft.
Other major programs include:
V-22 Osprey: It's been reprieved, and Rolls-Royce is
gearing up to supply AE2100 Liberty engines;
C-130J Hercules II: Production will benefit from a six-year
multi-year buy that includes 240 AE2100 turboprops;
C-27J: Orders from Italy and Greece are, Rolls-Royce
hopes, a harbinger of things to come for the AE2100-powered
transport;
A400M: Program go-ahead calls for 750 TP400 engines from
Europrop, in which Rolls-Royce has a 28% share;
BAE Hawk: The Adour 519 for South Africa's upgraded Hawks
flew for the first time last month.
Other successes include the RTM322 turboshaft engine which
has now been selected by nine countries for the EH101 and
NH 90 helicopters, with a requirement for 1,300 engines worth
$1.5 billion, as well as powering the UK WAH-64D Apache.
The T800 engine developed with joint partner Honeywell powers
the RAH-66 Comanche, all future AgustaWestland Super Lynx
helicopters, and has been chosen as the fifth engine to provide
electrical power on Japan's Shin Maywa US-1A flying boat,
which has four Rolls-Royce AE2100J turboprop engines.
Rolls-Royce now powers 25% of the world's military fleet
outside China and the CIS, with more defense customers in
more countries than any other aero engine company-255 operators
in 103 nations.
