EVENDALE, Ohio - GE Aircraft Engines' F414-GE-400 fighter engine is making the all-important transition from a highly successful development program to an active production engine program.
The U.S. Navy awarded Limited Production Qualification (LPQ) status to GE's F414 engine, which is powering the new McDonnell Douglas F/A-18E/F "Super Hornet" in a U.S. Navy flight test program.
The F414, produced at GE's Lynn, Massachusetts, facility, is key to GE's future military engine strategy. U.S. Navy plans call for the production of 2,300 engines for the Super Hornet through 2017. The Super Hornet is expected to enter the U.S. Navy's carrier fleet in 2001. In addition, the F414 is being evaluated as a potential export fighter engine for beyond the year 2000.
GE is procuring hardware for the first 27 engines under the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) phase, with the first production engine delivery scheduled for July 1998. The U.S. Department of Defense approved LRIP for the F/A-18E/F program in March 1997, with the initial contract for 27 engines and 12 aircraft. F414 engine production gradually increases during the LRIP phase from up to three engines per month to 10 engines per month.
Designated a "model program" by the U.S. Navy, the F414 development program is now 95 percent complete. One of the most tested fighter engines prior to production, F414 development engines have accumulated more than 9,400 hours of factory testing, including 3,500 hours of Accelerated Simulation Mission Endurance Testing. The F414 is powering seven F/A-18E/F flight test aircraft at the U.S. Navy's Patuxent River, Maryland, test center. To date, the aircraft have accumulated more than 800 flights with the engines surpassing 1,900 engine flight hours. F414 engines will have accumulated in excess of 12,000 total test hours by the end of the development program.
Rated at 22,000 pounds (98 kN) thrust, with a nine-to-one thrust-to-weight ratio, the F414 has 35 percent greater thrust than the highly successful F404 engine, which powers more than 1,200 F/A-18s worldwide.