GE was awarded a US$437 million contract modification from the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base June 29. The contract modification is for the execution of next generation adaptive propulsion risk reduction for potential air superiority applications.
GE, along with the U.S. Air Force, has matured the enabling technologies and architectures of adaptive cycle engines through a series of highly-successful design and test activities in the Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT), Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) and Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) efforts. Between 2007 and 2017, GE successfully designed and tested multiple three-stream adaptive fan configurations, an advanced compressor rig, two full-scale core engines, and a full three-stream adaptive cycle technology demonstrator engine. GE’s understanding of adaptive cycle engines is based on this solid foundation of testing.