HUNTSVILLE, Ala., 6 Oct. 2016. U.S. Army officials have selected Advanced Turbine Engine Company (ATEC), a joint venture of Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney in Huntsville, Alabama, to develop and demonstrate advanced engine capabilities that could be applicable to a new fleet of future vertical lift (FVL) military combat helicopters.
The science and technology contract falls under the Army's Alternate Concept Engine (ACE) program, intended to develop and validate new engine designs that will significantly improve vertical lift, range, speed, payload, survivability, and reliability for Army Aviation rotorcraft. The program is also focused on reducing operational and life-cycle costs, as well as the logistical footprint, for both the engine and future rotorcraft.
Under the ACE program, ATEC will demonstrate advanced variable speed turbine capabilities as well as other advanced technologies in a demonstrator engine test.
"ACE gives us the opportunity to build on a very successful demonstration of our HPW3000 engine, and to add the variable speed turbine and other advanced features that are directly applicable to future vertical lift," says ATEC President Craig Madden.
ATEC was also awarded a contract for Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the Improved Turbine Engine (ITE), a more powerful and fuel efficient engine for the Army's fleet of UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters.
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The ATEC joint venture of Honeywell (NYSE:HON) and Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX), combines the engineering, manufacturing, and production capabilities of two industry-leading companies perfectly suited for accomplishing the goals of the Army's Advanced Concept Engine program, officials say.
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