Rolls-Royce has reached a long-term agreement with Lockheed Martin
[LMT] worth up to $1 billion to deliver approximately 600 engines for future C-130J aircraft, according to a Rolls-Royce statement.
The agreement secures the Rolls-Royce AE 2100 as the engine of choice for all variants of the C-130J through 2025. The engine agreement will service United States and international contract requirements between 2014 and 2018.
The AE 2100 powers all C-130Js while Rolls-Royce T56 engines propel the legacy C-130 fleet. The AE 2100 turboprop is a two-shaft gas turbine with a 14-stage high pressure compressor driven by a two-stage high pressure turbine. The engine is the first to use dual Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) to control both the engine and the propeller, Rolls-Royce said. The T56 is a single shaft, modular design turboprop engine with a 14-stage axial flow compressor driven by a four-stage turbine unit. Rolls-Royce said the T56 and its commercial version, the 501-D, are the leading large turboprop engines in the world on the basis of the number of units sold and more than 200 million operating hours.
Lockheed Martin recently announced its intent to obtain certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a new civil variant of the C-130J called the LM-100J (Defense Daily, Feb. 4). Rolls-Royce has already delivered more than 1,500 AE 2100 engines to Lockheed Martin’s Marietta, Ga., facility. Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Stephanie Stinn said Wednesday the AE 2100 engine will be used on the LM-100J.