February 03, 2005 -- General Electric Company has successfully completed assembly and installation in the test rig of its first F136 Short Takeoff Vertical Landing (STOVL) test engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program. The engine is slated to begin ground testing this month at GE's outdoor test facility in Peebles, Ohio, USA.
Bob Griswold, president of the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team, LLC said: "Approximately 300 hours of testing are planned, and this will include primary control integration, durability screening testing, time at temperature, and thrust measurements. Testing is targeted to conclude in May 2005."
Tom Hartmann, senior vice president of the Fighter Engine Team, stated: "The F136 will be fully interchangeable and affordable to meet the requirements of all aircraft variants. The F136 STOVL engine has been specifically designed to power the F-35B JSF, which has been selected by the United States Marine Corps and the United Kingdom Royal Navy and Air Force."
The first STOVL engine test follows in the footsteps of the first F136 CTOL engine, which effectively completed testing in December 2004 at the GE's facility in Evendale, Ohio. Testing on this engine included engine performance assessment, fan risk reduction, fan stalls, and initial closed loop control demonstration. It successfully demonstrated smooth starts, throttle transients, stall free operation, low vibration levels and included a run to 105% max design speed. Additional testing resumed in January 2005.
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Rick Kennedy
GE Aviation
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