Leading aero engine manufacturers General Electric and Pratt & Whitney are competitors as well as partners. Browse through the third part of the article to know more about the players dominating the US aerospace industry.

GE Aviation

With its headquarters in Evendale, Ohio, GE Aviation is a subsidiary of General Electric Company (GE), one of the largest corporations in the world. GE Aviation is a part of GE Technology Infrastructure. Globally, the company is the leading supplier of aircraft engines for a variety of commercial aircraft. GE Aviation’s main competitors in the engine market are Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce.

In 1892, the amalgamation of The Edison General Electric Company founded by Thomas Alva Edison with two other electric companies, led to the formation of The General Electric Company (GE). In the early days, the company was engaged in the development of a turbine engine to generate electric power. In 1903, GE successfully developed the world’s largest steam turbine generator. GE made its entry into the regime of aero engine technology through the development of the turbo-superchargers that utilised the energy of exhaust gasses to drive a turbine to enhance engine performance at higher altitudes. This technology was incorporated on the B-17 Flying Fortress as well as on several other World War II aircraft.

In 1941, GE received its first contract from the US Army Air Corps to build a gas turbine engine based on Frank Whittle’s design. A number of other designs followed, but the first jet engine produced in large numbers in the US was the J31. This followed other successful designs such as the J33 powering the P80 Shooting Star, the J47 for the F-86 Sabre Jet used extensively in the Korean War. With over 35,000 engines delivered, the J47 was also the first turbojet certified for civil application. After 30 years of operational service, the J47 retired in 1978 giving way to the J79 for supersonic aircraft such as the F-104 Starfighter and the F-4 Phantom. Over 17,000 J79 engines were delivered in three decades. Entry into civil aviation market was made when the J79 derivative, the CJ 805 was selected to power the Convair 880 airliner.

Next came the J93 that powered the experimental XB-70 bomber capable of operating at Mach 3. The CJ805 was modified to carry a fan at the rear, the first turbofan engine for commercial use on the Convair 990. In 1965, the world’s first high bypass turbofan TF39 from GE was selected for the C-5 Galaxy strategic airlifter. Another success story was the J85 turbojet engine that powered the Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter which saw service in more than 30 countries.

Advances in technologies in the 1960s paved the way for the development of the F101 engine for the B-1 bomber. In the mid-1980s, the F110, based on the F101 design, was selected as one of the engines to power the F-16 C/D combat aircraft and the US Navy’s F-14B/D Super Tomcat. A derivative of the F110, the F118, powered the B-2 bomber. Around the same time, came the highly successful GE F404 engine of which more than 3,700 units were built.

Together with its derivatives, it powered the F/A-18 Hornet and several military aircraft worldwide such as the F-117 Stealth fighter, JAS-39 Gripen of Sweden and the A-4S Super Skyhawk fleet of the Republic of Singapore Air Force.

GE’s commercial engines of the 1970s were built on the technology of the military engines of the 1960s. Beginning in the early 1970s, the CF6 high bypass turbofan engine powered the Douglas DC-10. By the 1980s, the CF6 family of engines was powering wide-body aircraft, including the Boeing 747 and 767, the Airbus A300 and A310 and the McDonnell Douglas MD11. By the late 1990s, more than 5,500 CF6 engines were in service. A CF6-80C2 engine powers the Air Force One.

In 1974, GE entered into a 50:50 partnership with SNECMA, the leading French aircraft engine manufacturer to establish CFM International and jointly produce a new midsized turbofan engine which emerged as the CFM56. This has been one of the most successful international collaboration in the global aerospace industry. The objective was to gain a share of the short to medium range aircraft engine market. The company received its first order in 1979, when the CFM56-2 turbofan engine was selected to re-engine DC-8 Series 60 aircraft, renamed Super 70s. The US Air Force selected the military version of the CFM56-2, designated the F108, to re-engine its fleet of KC-135 tanker aircraft. Since then, GE and SNECMA CFM56 engines have powered commercial aircraft for the Boeing Classic 737-300/-400/-500 series, Airbus Industries A318, A319, A320, and A321, and the long-range, four-engine Airbus A340. The CFM56-7, power plant for the Boeing Next-Generation 737-600/-700/-800/-900 series, was launched in late 1993. In the second half of the 1990s, more than 3,500 CFM engines were delivered worldwide. In the decade ending 2010, the company would have delivered over 23,000 engines. As declared on the eve of the Farnborough Air Show 2010, GE Aviation and its engine joint ventures expect to deliver about 2,000 commercial jet engines in 2010, about 70 more than in 2009.

GE Aviation continues to assemble jet engines for the US military, subsidiary services and commercial operators. The range of engines includes the F404, F414, T700, GE90 and the CFE 738, LM6000 and 2500. The company also produces the CT7 commercial turboprop power plant and two variants of the CF34 regional jet engine, one of which the CF34-10A was selected to power the 850 aircraft fleet of the ARJ21 the new Chinese regional jet over the next two decades. Developed on the proven GE90 architecture, the highly fuel efficient, low emission GEnx-2B engine, successor to the CF6, was selected by Boeing in 2005 to power the 747-8 Intercontinental, the 747-8 Freighter and the 787 Dreamliner. The new engine has received FAA certification after extensive ground and flight tests and GE has orders for over 1,300 GEnx including around than 400 GEnx-2B engines from 48 customers around the world. The company is planning to ramp up production from 100 to 200 per year. CFM International is now working on the next generation engine designated as the “Leap X” for which a number of futuristic technologies are under evaluation.

The latest from GE in competition with Pratt & Whitney is the F136 engine specifically developed for the fifth generation F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. Developed in collaboration with Rolls-Royce, the F136 engine is a product of the best technology from two leading manufacturers of aero engines. With more than 70 per cent of its development complete, the GE/Rolls-Royce F136 engine programme is expected to be ready for flight testing in 2011.