Artist's rendering of airflow over GE's XA100 adaptive cycle engine that the company is developing for the US Air Force's Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP). The company developed a pair of engines for AETP. (General Electric)
General Electric (GE) has ended Phase 1 testing on its second XA100 adaptive cycle engine that it is developing as part of the US Air Force's (USAF's) Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP).
Phase 1 testing, which began on 26 August at the company's Evendale, Ohio, altitude test facility, enabled the company to continue gathering performance data validating the engine's capability, according to a 15 December company statement. Phase 1 testing allowed GE to further characterise the operation of the engine through gathering and analysing an immense amount of test data.
Company spokesperson Cole Massie said on 15 December that this data validated the engine and its components were performing to GE's, and the USAF's, expectations. He declined to provide the speed and duration of Phase 1 tests.
Phase 1 testing put the company in position to begin Phase 2 testing at the USAF's Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) in the first quarter of 2022. Phase 2 is expected to last around three to four months, similar to previous test campaigns.
Massie said there are no plans for a third phase of XA100 testing. Full flight envelope testing at AEDC is the capstone of AETP testing. Once that concludes, it represents the completion of the USAF's programme, Massie said.
Pratt & Whitney is also participating in AETP with its XA101 engine. The company had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
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