GE launches engine core for new commercial airplanes

boeGE Aviation has launched a new engine core program, called "eCore," as the technology cornerstone for a new generation of jet engines for narrow-body, regional, and business jets.

The program is designed to outpace competitive engine designs by offering aircraft operators up to 16 percent better fuel efficiency over GE's best engines in operation today.

GE already produces some of the world's most fuel-efficient jet engines. For example, Boeing 777s powered by the GE90-115B are the most fuel-efficient, long-range aircraft in production. The GEnx-powered Boeing 787 will achieve even greater levels.

Building on this experience, "eCore" raises the bar further for all future aircraft with 200 passengers and fewer. The fuel-efficiency targets for eCore exceed competitive engine offers being announced for new-generation commercial aircraft.

"eCore is also the foundation for new regional and business jet engines now being designed by thousands of GE engineers," said David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation. "Using eCore as the basis, GE is developing and maturing technologies for new regional and business jets for a time frame of 2015 and beyond."

Maximizing Efficiency at the Heart of the Engine

The engine "core" - comprised of the compressor, combustor, and high-pressure turbine - is the heart of any jet engine. It's where air is compressed and mixed with fuel to drive turbines, and create thrust. To this core, the fan system is attached to complete a jet engine.

Leveraging GEnx technologies, the eCore program features advanced materials (such as ceramic matrix composites), unique cooling technologies, next generation TAPS (Twin-Annular, Premixed, Swirler) combustor for efficient and cleaner fuel combustion, and new 3-D aerodynamic design airfoils.

The first eCore will run in 2009 for GE's joint technology efforts with Snecma (SAFRAN Group) on the next-generation CFM engine for narrow-body aircraft. CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of Snecma and GE, is the world's most successful commercial jet engine program.

The eCore name is derived from the greater fuel EFFICIENCY to be achieved, lower EMISSIONS, and the decades of EXPERTISE that GE brings to engine core design.

The eCore program is grounded in GE's unprecedented engine development activity in the past decade. In fact, GE has run advanced engine cores in its laboratories nearly every day for the past 20 years.

For several years, GE Aviation has invested more than $1 billion annually in research & development, leading to an array of highly-popular new engines, including the GE90-115B, GP7200, GEnx, CF34 regional jet family, and GE Honda HF120. These engines include technologies unique in aviation to GE, such as composite fan blades on the GE90 and GEnx, and a composite fan case and TAPS combustor on the GEnx.

GE's aggressive development programs continue to pay dividends, as more than 17,000 CFM and more than 6,000 GE engines now power commercial aircraft in service.