FLIGHT International,
27 November
1976
FRANCE'S AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY
—evenly divided between France and USA—have been
completed. By last September the high-time engine had
accumulated 523hr, including 200 "C"-type running
cycles representative of short-haul airline flying.
The CFM56 will first fly on one pylon of the McDonnell
Douglas YC-15 Advanced Medium Stol Transport prototype in January 1977. Flight-testing of another engine in
the Snecma Caravelle testbed will follow soon after. This
flying will also provide useful information for the ASMR
project, and the CFM56 has been proposed (though not
accepted) as the powerplant for a Nato Boeing E-3A
Awacs.
The airline CFM56 will initially give 22,0001b thrust
but could easily be uprated to 24,0001b, according to
Snecma. Certification of the initial production standard
engine is expected in late 1977 or early 1978.
M53 The M53, now being developed for the Delta Mirage
2000 fighter and the private-venture Delta Super Mirage,
occupies a major position in Snecma's forward planning.
On the M53 will depend Snecma's ability to finance production of the CFM56, the company's bid for a share of
the world civil airliner market.
The M53 first flew in the Caravelle testbed in mid-1973
and first went supersonic in the Mirage F.1/M53 testbed
at the end of 1974. A further series of flight tests in the
F.1/M53 is about to begin. Snecma reports that it has
built three bench engines, ten for development and 13
flight units. In M53-2 form it delivers 12,2001b thrust
cold and 18,0001b with afterburner. The first production
engine is likely to be the -5 with a modified fuel control
to boost reheated thrust to 19,8001b. But even this will
not give the Delta Mirage 2000 the required 1:1 thrust/
weight ratio at its probable combat weight. Under consideration therefore is the uprated M53-7, which will
embody a higher bypass ratio and a new fan and 1-p
compressor to give a reheated thrust of 21,3401b from an
otherwise unchanged carcase. The M53 must be ready
for a Mirage 2000 first flight in 1978, with service introduction following in 1982.
Olympus 593 At the beginning of this month British
Airways had flown 3,800 engine hours in two Concordes,
compared with an Air France total of 7,600 hours on four
aircraft. Both airlines report that the engine is showing
better reliability at this early stage of service than did
the big fans.
The Concorde Olympus is manufactured jointly by
Snecma and Rolls-Royce, with the French company producing the afterburner and nozzle/reverser for incorporation into complete engines in Britain. The current nozzle
is the Type 28.
Adour Technically and commercially Turbomeca's most
important engine, the Adour is manufactured in conjunction with Rolls-Royce for the Jaguar. The 1,000th
engine from the British and French lines is now being
completed. The Adour has also been adopted in unreheated form for the HSA Hawk, and a reheated version,
the TF40 for the T-2 and FST-2, is being built under
licence by Japan's Ishikawajima Harima (IHI). Unreheated Adours are assembled in Britain only.
The number of Adours ordered for Jaguars and Hawks
now stands at around 1,600. Turbomeca is currently investigating improvements, notably a three-stage lowpressure compressor to replace the present two-stage unit.
The two-shaft Adour was originally developed for the
Jaguar under the aegis of Rolls-Royce Turbomeca International. The standard Anglo-French Jaguar engine, the
Mk 102, has a take-off thrust of 7,3051b with afterburner.
The Mk 151 is produced for the Hawk. The export Jaguar
International is powered by the Mk 804 (RT.172-26) giving
8,0001b thrust with reheat for take-off. Some 15 engines
have been delivered for Ecuadorean Jaguars, the first
two of which are about to be delivered.
Several Adour developments with higher thrust and
1599
better s.f.c. have been proposed, but only the RT. 172-58,
giving 8,4301b reheated thrust, has proceeded. A pair of
these engines may be flown in a Jaguar- to be exhibited
at the Paris Show next June. Equivalent upratings of the
unreheated Mk 151 have been proposed but not so far
adopted.
Larzac Though Larzac started as a family of turbofans
for both civil and military applications, only the 04 has
found work, powering the Franco-German Alpha Jet
trainer. An 03 version for the Corvette was stillborn.
Snecma received a firm order for 186 Larzacs and options
for 234 more in January 1976. Now Snecma and Turbomeca, through the joint company Groupement TurbomecaSnecma (CRTS), are sharing production with KHD and
MTU in Germany and with sub-contractor FN in Belgium.
This arrangement has caused Snecma chairman Rene
Ravaud to remark pointedly on the problems which arise
when five companies attempt to share the production of
an engine weighing a mere 6001b. An option to licence
has been granted to Teledyne CAE in the USA.
The Larzac has performed satisfactorily in the four
Alpha Jet prototypes, and aircraft 01 is currently concentrating on engine development. This powerplant first flew
on a Constellation testbed in March 1973 and on a Falcon
10 in July 1973. Flight development in the Alpha Jet
began in October 1973. Larzac production will now have
to be speeded up to meet the deadline for the first flight
of the initial production aircraft, brought forward from
May 1978 to September 1977. The airframe manufacturers
are planning for an ultimate production run of 1,000 Alpha
Jets.
CF6 Snecma contributes 27 per cent by value of the
General Electric CF6-50 engines installed in the A300.
The work consists of manufacturing certain parts in
association with MTU in Germany, and supplying them
to GE, and assembling and testing the finished engine.
Atar Snecma has been building successive versions of
this military turbojet for nearly 20 years, and four models
The unreheated Atar 8K50 is now flying
prototypes. Production starts next year
in the Super
Etendard