Rolls-Royce AE 2100

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use American English

The Rolls-Royce AE 2100 is a turboprop developed by Allison Engine Company, now part of Rolls-Royce North America. The engine was originally known as the GMA 2100, when Allison was a division of former corporate parent General Motors.

DevelopmentEdit

On July 11, 1989, Saab-Scania A.B. selected the GMA 2100 to power its new Saab 2000, a 50-seat stretch of the Saab 340 turboprop, in a US$500 million deal.<ref name="NYT19890712"/> In July 1990, Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) of Indonesia picked the GMA 2100 as the engine for the twin-engine N-250 regional airliner.<ref name="FI19900718"/> Flight testing with a Template:Cvt Dowty R373 propeller on a Lockheed P-3 Orion testbed aircraft began on August 23, 1990, and finished after over 50 hours of flight and ground testing.<ref name="DowtyNews199102"/>

The GMA 2100D3 became the powerplant for the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules. It made its first test flight on March 19, 1994,<ref name="DODAppropriations1995"/> which was conducted by Marshall Aerospace on a Lockheed C-130K Hercules testbed leased from the Royal Air Force. Testing ended in June 1994 after 47 flight hours.<ref name="FI19940831"/> The engine powered the initial flight of the C-130J aircraft on April 5, 1996.<ref name="FG19960416"/> By April 1997, the D3 variant had received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification.<ref name="DD19970410"/> 2,000 of the D3 variants have been delivered as of 2018.<ref name="2thousandD3engines"/>

The engine's C variant was certified on December 20, 1993.<ref name="CRAN19940221"/> It powered the N-250 prototype's first flight on August 10, 1995,<ref name="FG19950815"/> but the N-250 aircraft program was postponed indefinitely in the late 1990s due to the Asian financial crisis.<ref name="AIN200110"/>

In June 1997, the AE 2100 was selected by Lockheed Martin and Alenia to power the C-27J Spartan tactical airlifter.<ref name="DD19970620"/> In October 2015, Alenia announced plans to use a Template:Convert uprated version of the AE 2100 as the baseline engine by 2017.<ref name="FG20151019"/>

DesignEdit

File:C-130 Hercules over Santa Cruz Island.jpg

C-130J Hercules with six-bladed props

A derivative of the Allison AE 1107C-Liberty (Rolls-Royce T406) turboshaft engine, the AE 2100 shares the same high-pressure core as that engine, as does the Rolls-Royce AE 3007 turbofan. This core is capable of powering turboprops of up to Template:Cvt.<ref name="CAI199111p19"/> The AE 2100 is a two-shaft design,Template:R and it was the firstTemplate:When to use dual FADECs (full authority digital engine control) to control both engine and propeller,<ref name="Dowty80"/> allowing both to be adjusted with a single lever.Template:R There are four production variants of the engine: the civil AE 2100A, and the military variants which include the AE 2100D2/D2A, AE 2100D3, AE 2100J and AE 2100P.

The AE 2100 inherited the Allison T56's 14-stage axial compressor design, but the inlet and the stator for the first five stages have variable blades. The annular combustor has 16 air-blast fuel injection nozzles. The turbine that drives the compressor has two stages, with the first stage using single-crystal blades. A free power turbine with two stages drives the propeller through an inner shaft and a gearbox.Template:R The engine has replaceable steel blades and vanes, which are more reliable but heavier than titanium.<ref name="CAI199111p19"/>

The AE 2100 engine and gearbox are rated at Template:Convert, but was derated to Template:Cvt for the Saab 2000, Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules, and IPTN N-250, respectively.<ref name="Interavia199410p16"/> The engine uses six-bladed, all-composite blade Dowty propellers, including the model R381 on the Saab 2000, R414 on the ShinMaywa US-2,<ref name="Dowty80"/> R384 on the IPTN N-250,<ref name="CRAN19941114"/> and R391 on the C-130J military transport<ref name="FI19960828"/> and the LM-100J civil-certified version of the C-130J.<ref name="AADT_LM-100J"/> The gearbox has a reduction ratio of about 14 and a mean time before unscheduled removal (MTBUR) of over 35,000 hours.<ref name="CAI199111p12"/>

Variants and applicationsEdit

AE 2100A

Lockheed P-3 Orion (testbed)
Saab 2000

AE 2100C

IPTN N-250 (prototype only)

AE 2100D2A

Alenia C-27J Spartan

AE 2100D3

AE 2100F: A variant proposed in 1995 and paired with Dowty R394 propellers to retrofit the Allison T56-powered Lockheed C-130 models E through H and Lockheed L-100-30, at a price after engine/propeller trade-in of USD$11 million per aircraft.<ref name="FG19951212"/>
AE 2100G: A variant offered in 1994 for the proposed ATR 82, a twin-turboprop airliner seating up to 86 passengers and requiring about Template:Cvt of power.<ref name="JPRS-EST-94-017"/>
AE 2100H: A variant offered in 1996 for Dassault Aviation's proposed Atlantic Third Generation (ATL3G) maritime patrol aircraft (MPA).<ref name="FG19960521"/>
AE 2100J: A hybrid of the AE 2100A and AE 2100D3, sporting the torque-meter and interconnecting struts from the AE 2100A and the gearbox-mounted accessory gearbox from the AE 2100D3; also uses a stronger reduction gearbox, a Dowty six-bladed propeller for higher loads, and modified inlet and bypass section positioning to mitigate seawater ingestion;<ref name="FI19970820"/> powers the ShinMaywa US-2.
AE 2100P

Saab 2000 AEW&C

AE 2100SD-7: A variant proposed in 1994 for the European Future Large Aircraft<ref name="JPRS-EST-94-014-L"/> (which eventually became the Airbus A400M), with the required power increase from Template:Cvt estimated to cost USD$600 million.<ref name="Interavia199410p14"/>