Future Vertical Lift Engine Program on 'Upward Ramp.

• Author: Roaten, Meredith

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--While the Army's program to build a next-generation helicopter engine has faced its share of COVID-19 pandemic woes, the program manager said it is on an "upward ramp" for its first delivery in November.

The T901 engine will be ready for integration into the Future Air Reconnaissance Aircraft by late fall after the Army and the engine manufacturer General Electric ignited fuel in the engine to produce power for the first time in late March, said Col. Roger Kuykendall, program manager for aviation turbine engines.

"I'm very confident that November is the bottom line and confident in GE and those suppliers despite the challenges," he told National Defense.

The Army initially expected the engine--known as the Improved Turbine Engine Program--to be set for takeoff in the spring of 2021. Both competitors for FARA told reporters during the Army Aviation Association of America summit in April that their prototypes are mostly finished and waiting for the engine integration.

While the engine program suffered the same supply chain issues that rocked the rest of the defense industry, advances in additive manufacturing and digital design alleviated the worst of it, according to GE executives.

"There are things that we can print into that additively manufactured part that we could not do any other way, and so it dramatically opens the design space," said Michael Sousa, GE's product development manager for turboshaft engines.

While the parts for 80 percent of the engine's components are ready, some are taking longer. The engine's...