Adour MK951 makes flight test progress

Paris Air Show, 14 June 2003

The Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour Mk951, which powers the Hawk New Development Aircraft (HNDA), continues to make excellent progress in its flight test programme, which is being conducted at the South African Air Force Flight Test Centre at Bredasdorp near Cape Town.

Following the successful completion of its first flight last month, the new Adour 951 has totalled 10 flying hours in eight flights, during which it has been subjected to a number of aircraft system test points. These have included engine handling and performance, relighting in both Electronic Engine Controller (EEC) and manual fuel control, and engine vibration surveys. All have been performed successfully.

The comprehensive flight test programme totals 60 flights and will continue through the remainder of this year, covering all aspects of aircraft /engine integration and operational demonstration around the flight envelope. This flight-test work leads to full qualification of the engine in late 2003, supporting the first production engine delivery in July 2004.

The flight test crew, comprising both BAE SYSTEMS and Rolls-Royce pilots, expressed satisfaction with the early flights and noted in particular, improved take-off acceleration from the increased thrust of the Adour 951 engine.

Rolls-Royce test Pilot Phil O'Dell said: "The engine and airframe combination is superb. The thrust increase is encouraging, but what's really exciting is the progress we are making with the surge and flameout detection and recovery logic. It is here that we will turn a tremendous product into a truly world-beating and market-leading engine."

The new generation Adour Mk951 was launched in response to customer requirements to increase mission capability and simultaneously to reduce costs. The engine addresses these apparently conflicting requirements by increasing thrust to 6500 lb from 6000; incorporating a simpler more reliable control system; and increasing the overhaul life of the engine from 2000 to 4000 hours by incorporating the latest technology.

The Mk951 also has a FADEC (full authority digital engine control) system, is being developed by Rolls-Royce and Turbomeca. The engine is designed to power derivatives of the Hawk and Goshawk T45 from 2005 into the foreseeable future.

South Africa is the launch customer for the Adour 951-powered Hawk Lead In Fighter Trainer (LIFT) and has ordered 24 aircraft.

Over 2,600 Adours have been delivered to date, clocking up well over six million flying hours. Adours are in service with 21 different armed forces

Notes to Editors : Rolls-Royce Turbomeca is jointly owned by Rolls-Royce plc and Turbomeca. Since its formation in 1966, it has developed and produced more than 2,600 Adour turbofan engines for the SEPECAT Jaguar, BAE SYSTEMS Hawk and Mitsubishi T-2/F-1 fleets.

Nick Britton
Communications Manager
ROLLS-ROYCE Defence Aerospace
Tel: +44.117.979.5943
Email: nick.britton@rolls-royce.com

Bettina Frey
Tel: (33) 5 59 12 55 69
Fax: (33) 5 59 12 52 00
Email: bettina.frey@turbomeca.fr