General Electric T901

The General Electric T901 (GE3000[3]) is a turboshaft engine in the 3,000 shp (2,200 kW) class currently under development for the United States Army's Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP). The ITEP plans after 2025 to re-engine over 1,300 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and more than 600 Boeing AH-64 Apache, and power the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA).[4]

T901
Type Turboshaft
National origin United States
Manufacturer GE Aviation
First run 22 March 2022[1]
Developed from General Electric T700[2]

Development

Since 2010, General Electric has spent more than $300 million to develop and test T901-specific technologies. In 2016, the Army awarded GE Aviation a $102-million, 24-month contract for the T901 preliminary design review for which a team of more than 100 engineers was assembled. The GE-funded prototype six month testing was completed in October 2017, meeting or exceeding the ITEP performance and growth requirements.[5]

On 1 February 2019, the US Army selected the GE T901 as the winner of the ITEP program.[6] Engineering completion and manufacturing development are contracted for $517 million, for August 2024 before low-rate production.[4]

On 22 March 2022, the first turboshaft began bench tests at GE’s Lynn, Massachusetts facility.[1] It finished on 28 June 2022 after over 100 hours of testing.[7] The first engine was scheduled to be delivered to the US Army in the fall of 2023.[8] Another engine production delay caused the initial flight of a FARA prototype to be rescheduled for early 2024.[9]

Design

GE has maintained the T700 single spool architecture for modularity and reliability with additive manufacturing and ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) from the CFM LEAP, GE9X or GE ATP. Additive manufactured components lower weight by minimizing attaching features in assemblies and allows more advanced aerodynamic shapes for better engine performance, reliability and durability. More durable and higher temperature CMCs replace metal alloys, needing less cooling and improving engine efficiency.[5]

Applications

Specifications

Data from 2019 ARPA-E INTEGRATE annual meeting (estimates)[2]

General characteristics
  • Type: Turboshaft
  • Length: 48.2 in (1,220 mm)
  • Diameter: 25–26 in (640–660 mm)
  • Dry weight:

Components
  • Compressor:

Performance

See also

Related development

Comparable engines

Related lists

References
  1. "Army Improved Turbine Engine program reaches critical milestone". U.S. Army. 23 March 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  2. deBock, Peter (September 18, 2019). GE turbines and small engines overview (PDF). 2019 INTEGRATE Annual Meeting. General Electric Global Research. ARPA-E. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  3. "The Single Spool Core: A proven design for performance and simplicity" (PDF). GE Aviation.
  4. Garrett Reim (1 Feb 2019). "GE wins $517m ITEP contract for US Army helicopters". Flightglobal.
  5. "GE Aviation completes T901 turboshaft testing for the US Army's Improved Turbine Engine Program" (Press release). GE Aviation. October 9, 2017.
  6. Insinna, Valerie (1 February 2019). "General Electric wins $517 million contract to build engines for Army's next generation helicopters". Defense News. Sightline Media Group. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  7. Mitchell, Cindy (7 July 2022). "Army successfully concludes T901 first engine to test milestone". U.S. Army. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  8. "General Electric T901 delivery to US Army delayed until boreal fall 2023". Janes.com. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
  9. Judson, Jen (15 March 2023). "US Army's new helicopter engine hit with another delay". Industry. C4ISRNET. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
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