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GE Aerospace [GE] and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions [KTOS] have begun altitude testing for their new low-cost GEK800 turbofan engine, designed to power cruise missiles and unmanned platforms in the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) space.
“Altitude testing is the next milestone in demonstrating our commitment to delivering high-performance, affordable jet engines to support our defense customers,” Stacey Rock, president of Kratos Turbine Technologies, said in a statement. “Our team is uniquely positioned to bring these advanced designs into high-rate production to support the rising demand for propulsion systems for cruise missiles and CCA-type aircraft.”
GE Aerospace noted it began working with Kratos on the 800-pound GEK800 engine in 2023, and that the firms have already completed more than 50 engine starts in ground testing to date.
“The GEK800 engine has performed well and exceeded our expectations in its ground testing to date,” Mark Rettig, vice president and general manager of GE Aerospace’s Edison Works Advanced Programs, said in a statement.
Steve “Doogie” Russell, vice president and general manager at GE Aerospace Edison Works, told reporters during a June briefing that the aim with the GEK800 is to develop an engine for cruise missiles that can “meet or beat” the current price of around “a couple hundred [thousand] while offering “enhanced performance.”
Rock said during the same briefing that work on the GEK800 began with a mix of internal funding and some support from the Air Force with an aim for further development of a capability for the advanced cruise missile market.
“I think it’s pretty widely known that there are not a large number of engines that are available in that class for these systems. And with the numbers that are being projected [for what is] going to be produced in the coming years, there was a strong pull for an alternate engine,” Rock said at the time.
Rettig said that the altitude testing with the GEK800 at Purdue University’s Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories will collect data “on the engine’s performance in a range of altitudes to assess its operability in simulated real-world conditions.”
“The altitude testing will focus on an altitude window between 5,000-35,000 feet and is anticipated to be completed by the end of the year,” GE Aerospace said in a statement.
Craig Young, GE Aerospace’s executive engineering director for hypersonic propulsion and small UAV engines, told reporters in June the plan is to build the first GEK800 product engine by December or January and a second engine a month a half later.
At the June briefing, GE Aerospace and Kratos officials detailed plans to expand their work together with the development of a scaled-up, 1,500-pound GEK1500, which is slated for an initial prototype demo in 2026 (Defense Daily, June 3).
Russell said then that the pursuit of the larger GEK1500 follows the Pentagon’s interest in “portable combat mass,” such as CCAs, and was “based on discussions with where we think the government may or may not be going but also [in talking] with various platform providers, both the more traditional ones and the more disruptive type of platform providers.”
The Air Force has been developing uncrewed CCAs it envisions as drone “wingmen” supporting future manned fighters.
Kratos has said it will open a 50,000 square-foot facility in Bristow, Oklahoma by mid-2026 to manufacture the family of turbofan engines it is developing with GE Aerospace, and it will begin with an initial focus on the GEK800 (Defense Daily, June 16).
