Rolls Considers Need To ‘Re-phase’ UltraFan Development

Rolls-Royce expects to continue testing UltraFan engines into at least 2023 as it commits to the market availability of a new product by the turn of the decade.

Rolls-Royce has now entered what it calls an “intensive” phase of development, as it manufactures parts for the first demonstrator engine scheduled for testing by the end of the year. Ground testing on its new purpose-built testbed, now nearing completion at its plant in Derby, UK, will take place over “a number of months through 2022,” followed by testing on “multiple” engines.

Targeting a 25-percent reduction in emissions compared with the first generation of Trent turbofans, the UltraFan technology program could address applications ranging from 25,000 to 100,000 pounds of thrust, making it suitable for narrowbody and widebody airplanes. However, the Covid-19 crisis has already forced severe production cuts across a range of seating capacities, and all signs point to a particularly dim outlook for the widebody segment as analysts with the International Air Transport Association project a particularly slow recovery of long-haul travel.

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