Thursday, 24 November 2016

The latest version of the Rolls-RoyceTrent XWB, the most efficient large aero engine flying in the world today, has powered the Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to the skies for the first time today.

The Trent XWB-97 is the sole powerplant for the longer range A350-1000, which will enter service next year.

The first test flight, which took place at Toulouse, France, marks another milestone for the highly successful Trent XWB programme. The Trent XWB-84 has already delivered outstanding performance and reliability since it first went into service in January 2015.

The Trent XWB, specifically designed for the A350 XWB, is the fastest-selling widebody engine ever, with more than 1,600 already sold.

Eric Schulz, Rolls-Royce, President - Civil Aerospace, said: 'This is a great moment for Airbus and Rolls-Royceand I am proud our engines power this outstanding programme and this particular flight today. We are absolutely committed to continue to deliver new types of engines to meet the evolving needs of the industry.'

Didier Evrard, Airbus EVP of Programmes, said: 'Today's successful A350-1000 first-flight is an encouraging milestone for our newest and largest member of the A350 XWB family. Over the months ahead we look forward to a successful flight-test campaign, together with our partner Rolls-Royce- whose new Trent XWB-97 engine promises to deliver the performance to help make this aircraft the most economically efficient and capable in its class.'

The Trent XWB-97's increased 97,000lb thrust is achieved through a combination of new high-temperature turbine technology, a larger engine core and advanced fan aerodynamics, allowing Airbus to increase the A350-1000 payload range and maximum take-off weight.

Trent XWB - incredible engineering by numbers:

  • The front fan is just under 10 ft feet across (9.8) and sucks in up to 1.3 tonnes of air every second at take-off.
  • High pressure turbine blades inside the engine rotate at 12,500 rpm, with their tips reaching 1,200mph - twice the speed of sound.
  • At take off each of the engine's 68 high pressure turbine blades generates around 900 horsepower per blade - similar to a Formula One racing car.
  • At full power, air leaves the nozzle at the back of the engine travelling at almost 1000mph.

For high-res images please see here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rolls-royceplc
For b-roll engine footage see here: https://vimeo.com/user59211529/trentxwb-broll

About Rolls-RoyceHoldings plc

  1. Rolls-Royce's vision is to be the market-leader in high performance power systems where our engineering expertise, global reach and deep industry knowledge deliver outstanding customer relationships and solutions. We operate across five businesses: Civil Aerospace, Defence Aerospace, Marine, Nuclear and Power Systems.
  2. Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 120 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
  3. We have three common themes across all our businesses:
    • Investing in and developing engineering excellence
    • Driving a manufacturing and supply chain transformation which will embed operational excellence in lean, lower-cost facilities and processes
    • Leveraging our installed base, product knowledge and engineering capabilities to provide customers with outstanding service through which we can capture aftermarket value long into the future.
  5. Annual underlying revenue was £13.4 billion in 2015, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £76.4 billion at the end of 2015.
  6. In 2015, Rolls-Royce invested £1.2 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royceengineers at the forefront of scientific research.
  7. Rolls-Royce employs over 50,000 people in more than 46 countries. More than 16,000 of these are engineers.
  8. The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2015 we employed 228 graduates and 277 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes.

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Rolls-Royce Holdings plc published this content on 24 November 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 24 November 2016 10:39:08 UTC.

Original documenthttp://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/yr-2016/24-11-2016-rr-trent-xwb-powers.aspx

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