Pratt & Whitney Selected for Negotiations for U.S. Air Force Adaptive Engine Technology Development Program

Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), has been selected for negotiations by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for the Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) program. The AETD program is an initiative by the AFRL Aerospace Systems Directorate to mature critical fuel efficiency technologies and engine design features that could transition into legacy and next generation military combat aircraft.

Pratt & Whitney’s proposed AETD program will lead to demonstration testing of an advanced high pressure ratio core in late 2015, to be followed in 2016 by full engine testing of a three-stream adaptive fan and three-stream compatible augmentor and exhaust system. The introduction of the third flow path stream will allow the engine operating conditions and resultant bypass ratio to be modulated to optimize performance across all power settings and flight conditions. This will significantly reduce total fuel consumption across multiple missions.

Click here to read Pratt & Whitney's press release.

COVERAGE:

• • 6th Gen Engines—Pratt In, Rolls Out, GE Stays On 
  (Aviation Week: Ares Blog)
• • U.S. taps Pratt to pen fuel-efficient warplane motor 
  (Hartford Business Journal)
• • GE, P&W selected to build fuel-efficient military engine demonstrators (Flight International)