Rolls-Royce hits milestone for new British combat jet engine

Rolls-Royce has reported a series of propulsion milestones for the UK’s future combat air effort, drawing on its Orpheus demonstrator to progress the design of the engine demonstrator for the Global Combat Air Programme, the Team Tempest partners stated.

The update formed part of a wider set of announcements from the partnership between the Ministry of Defence, BAE Systems, Leonardo, MBDA and Rolls-Royce on programmes supporting the UK’s Future Combat Air System and GCAP. For the FCAS flying combat air demonstrator, Rolls-Royce is providing two modified EJ200 engines, the powerplant used in the Typhoon, to support the aircraft’s development.

According to the company, the path to the next-generation propulsion system begins with the Orpheus demonstrator, which it uses to test new working methods and agile engineering processes. Rolls-Royce says the rapid learning model developed through Orpheus, aimed at compressing traditional timelines, is directly shaping technology development and reducing risk for future aircraft.

Those lessons are now being scaled internationally through the GCAP engine demonstrator, developed by a consortium of Rolls-Royce, IHI of Japan and Italy’s Avio Aero. The company says the international effort is advancing power and propulsion technologies toward the ground-testing of the engine demonstrator, which is intended to gather the data needed to de-risk the programme.

Richard Berthon, Director of Future Combat Air at the Ministry of Defence, was quoted in the press release as saying: “These achievements demonstrate the pace and scale of progress being delivered through the Team Tempest enterprise. From advanced digital manufacturing and flight testing to next-generation propulsion technologies, we are maturing the critical capabilities needed to deliver a world-leading Future Combat Air System for the UK. The expertise, skills and technologies being developed today are not only reducing risk for GCAP, they are strengthening our sovereign combat air capability and ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of air power innovation for decades to come.”