T
HE US ARMY’S competition
to develop a new turboshaft
engine for its rotorcraft has
pitted the General Electric
Company’s GE Aviation
subsidiary against the
Advanced Turbine Engine Company
(ATEC) in a head-to-head battle. The
Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP)
is developing a replacement for the
General Electric T700-GE-701 series that
currently powers the service’s Sikorsky
UH-60 and Boeing AH-64 utility and
attack/reconnaissance helicopters. The
competitors respectively submitted their
proposals for the program’s engineering
and manufacturing development (EMD)
phase to the army on July 17 and July 30
this year.
The ITEP engine will provide the
UH-60 and AH-64 with additional
power, permitting them to meet
requirements for operating in hot
and high-density altitudes — 6,000ft
(1,829m) at 95° Fahrenheit (6k/95) or
the same speci c environments that
include sand and dust clouds. It will
deliver 50 per cent more power while
reducing speci c fuel consumption by
25 per cent and life-cycle costs by 35
per cent. Its design life will be increased
by 20 per cent over the current engine.
An ITEP-equipped UH-60M operating
at these extremes will be capable of
carrying a full complement of 13 troops
over the required radius of 120nm
(225km). This compares to just ve
troops over a shorter distance with
the current (2,000shp/1,491kW-class)
T700-701D engines.Spooling up
GE Aviation and ATEC received contracts
that led to the development of their
GE3000 and HPW3000 designs In
September 2007 and May 2008. Both
ground-demo engines ran for the rst
time in 2013.
Formed in 2007, ATEC — a joint venture
between Honeywell International and
Pratt & Whitney — is developing the
T900 engine, while GE is working on the
T901. ATEC’s T900-HPW-900 features a
dual-spool core design that includes low-
and high-pressure spools. The design
provides for 10 per cent greater thrust
growth, while still meeting the army’s
requirements for maintenance cost and
weight. ATEC reports that the dual-spool
design, which is based on the HPW3000,
improves fuel e ciency and ight
characteristics and runs cooler, resulting
in less wear and tear and improved
durability and reduced maintenance.
Additionally, the T900 will reduce fuel
burn by three to four per cent when
compared to a single-spool engine.
The T900 will double the Black Hawk’s
range and the number of troops it can
carry, and will signi cantly improve
the helicopter’s performance in high-
altitude, hot-weather environments.
Testing has also shown that the engine
will increase the AH-64’s lift capacity by
3,300lb (1,497kg) while providing an
additional 48-66 minutes of loiter time.
GE has described its engine as being less
complex, less expensive and lighter than
its competitor. The T901 is built upon the
‘success of the combat-proven T700 and
providing the army superior x-forwardThe US Army’s Improved
Turbine Engine Program
(ITEP) is developing
a new powerplant to
improve the operational
fl exibility of the
service’s Black Hawk
and Apache helicopters.REPORT Tom Kaminski
The ITEP engine is big
business — the winner
will replace the current
T700s on as many as
2,135 UH-60s.
US Army/Sgt 1st Class
Ty McNeeleyINDUSTRY REPORT // US ARMY IMPROVED TURBINE ENGINE PROGRAM
28 November 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net