GE and Sikorsky Offsets Programmes Developing New Skills

It also signalled the first time the Government was going to ensure the 30% offset obligation for purchases from local industry would be met, together with implementing considerable ‘designated’ work. This meant a big leap forward in technology and capability for the former Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation as they moved from Mirages to the F/A-18.

The company quickly geared up to manufacture 27 engine components, including six stages of blades and vanes from precision titanium/aluminium forgings. Also included were fan casings from titanium, rotating seals and the high-temperature CODEP coating of high and low pressure turbine castings supplied from the USA.

This component manufacturing phase involves two categories. First the designated order for 185 engine sets of the 27 components. Second, the offset order for 180 engine sets on 18 of the components with follow-on offset orders on a selected number of components.

The component manufacturing phases have been successful following the sorting out of start-up problems involving the fan blades and vanes, plus some growing pains due to the large volume of parts required per engine set.

It has been a case study of the difficulties which can be encountered by Australian companies as they get in step with the advanced technology and manufacturing procedures of a leading international aerospace organisation. The F404 Assembly, Inspection and Test programme works well at the Melbourne plant. Complete engine kits are shipped by sea and air from the GE plant in Lynn to Port Melbourne. The engines are then assembled and tested in the $40 million Test Cell financed by the Federal Government at the HdH plant. There have been 84 engines tested and accepted as at March 1987.

All F404 AIT delivery schedules have been met on time, except for a two month delay experienced in 1985. This was caused by a problem which occurred in the Test Cell and took some tracking down. Eventually it was identified as an ‘amplification’ effect in the cradle holding the engine in the test cell. This was cured by securing a considerable weight of lead on the cradle to absorb the high energy level produced by the engine.

The AIT programme continues until June next year when a total of 160 F404 engines will have been delivered to the RAAF {via the USN). Additional Australian Industry Involvement work is also being performed by Lucas Aerospace Industries Ltd in Sydney. They are responsible for assembling and testing main fuel controls and afterburner fuel controls from kits supplied by Bendix and GE. Delivery schedules for these have also been met for the past 12 months. In summary, Australia now has an infrastructure which is the latest available in the worldwide marketplace as a result of the GE offsets programme. The engineers and others involved are now dedicated to meeting the three targets required to make local industry competitive – cost, quality and delivery dates.

HdH Also Involved With T700

HdH and General Electric will also be jointly involved in the T700 engine which has been selected for the new Seahawk and Black Hawk helicopters for the Royal Australian Navy and the RAAF/Army.

The first two T700-GE-401A engines for the RAN were delivered in early February from the GE plant at Lynn to Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford for installation in the S-70B-2 Seahawk. Delivery of the first T700-GE-401A engines for the RAAF/Army S-70A-9 Black Hawks took place in March this year. Meanwhile, the T700 is setting an outstanding track record as the biggest production run of any helicopter engine in history.

Programme General Manager for GE, Mr Louis Bevilacqua, commented at the handing over ceremony that the T700 is a proven high technology engine with an outstanding service record. “It is in use around the world and we are sure it will demonstrate the same excellence on Australian aircraft it is showing elsewhere,” he said.

With approximately 1. 5 million engine flight hours {EFH) and 80,000 test hours, the T700 family has set the helicopter industry standards for engine operability, reliability, maintainability and value.

In fact, when compared to previous generation helicopter powerplants, T700 engines have provided 30% lower fuel consumption, six times greater reliability, half the maintenance and, overall, a 40% reduction in ownership costs.

In recent years, the T700 and its derivatives have operated as much as 8,000 EFH between unscheduled, engine caused removals. This is similar to the track record achieved by high bypass turbofans in wide body transport aircraft, but previously unheard of for hard working helicopter engines.

More than 3,500 T700s have been shipped to date, for use under virtually every environmental condition imaginable. They power aircraft for the US Army, the US Navy, the US Marine Corps and 15 international customers and are in service aboard seven different production helicopters. These include the international Sikorsky S-70, the Sikorsky UH-60A Black Hawk, the SH-60B Seahawk and SH-60F CV Helo, the McDonnell Douglas AH-64 Apache and the Bell AH-1W Super Cobra and 214ST.

This engine family has also been selected to power military and civil versions of the Agusta/Westland EH 101 and for such development programmes as the Kaman YSH-2G Super Seasprite and the Westland W30-200/300.

“In choosing the T700, Australia is assured of receiving the most value for dollars spent,” Mr Bevilacqua said. “The T700 provides commonality of equipment with the United States and, because of the engine’s wide use, nearby support will be available wherever these aircraft might be deployed,” he said.

Contracts to HdH and other companies are currently being let by GE in connection with its Australian Industry Involvement obligations associated with the T700 and GE’s commercial engines which are now a large part of the market in this country.

Other components of the T700 package being proposed for future aircraft purchases include establishment of depot facilities; assembly, inspection and test of new engines for the helicopters and production of additional T700 parts.

Also as part of the on-going All programme, GE has recently announced an agreement in principle with Overall Forge of Auburn NSW both to supply the Australian company with advanced technology, in the form of a GE patented manufacturing process and to purchase components.

The process is for rolled forming of cylindrical, non-rotating components for both military and commercial aircraft engines. It is anticipated that export sales of the order of $4-6 million will be achieved with these products.

The current RAAF programme calls for 33 T700-701 engines, comprising 28 installed and 5 spares. All will be delivered by late 1987 with rollout of the first locally assembled Black Hawk due in October this year. Under the RAN programme, 32 installed engines plus five spares will be delivered through mid 1989.

Projected follow-on buys in both programmes could conservatively add 38 Black Hawks to the RAAF inventory and 12 Seahawks to the RAN fleet, requiring an additional 100 installed T700 engines plus spares. “We are committed to mak ing the T700 offset programme as successful as the F404 programme has been,” Mr Bevilacqua said.

“It is a vital part of our contracts with the RAN and the RAAF. The contracts and agreements currently being established will provide long-term relationships between Australia and GE for many years to come,” he said.