The US Army exercised an option for production engines under a competitively awarded contract for the YT706-GE-700, a growth version of the CT7-8 turboshaft engine, for its U.S. Special Forces MH-60M helicopter program. This award closely followed the completion of two major milestones in July, clearing the way for this decision.

The emergency power demonstration engine test was successfully completed in the Lynn Product Development & Delivery test cell. The engine ran at well over the rated maximum temperature for 10 minutes, 29 seconds. All engine Production Airworthiness Release (PAR) qualification testing has now been successfully completed.

A total of 13 engine/component tests and 60 analysis reports have been submitted since the Army awarded GE the T706 contract in July 2005. This final test characterized the engine response to severe over-temperature conditions, successfully validating a design that will provide additional emergency power capability to flight crews.

"We are very pleased with the engine's performance and the results throughout the series of intense testing," said John Martin, MH-60M Program Manager. "We were able to meet our objectives and keep to the test schedule, which is a credit to the LPDD team and their cooperation."

Concurrent with the completion of engine PAR testing, the MH-60M test aircraft equipped with two T706 engines completed more than 40 hours of flight testing, successfully demonstrating the enhanced performance of the T706 and helping verify the engine-airframe compatibility.

The YT706 is based on the FAA-certified CT7-8A engine. Compared with the T700 currently powering H-60 helicopters, the YT706 has a larger compressor, hot section improvements and a full authority digital engine control. The YT706 provides up to 30 percent more power than the current T700-701C and will increase the hot-and-high mission capability of the MH-60M Black Hawk.

The YT706-GE-700 was selected two years ago to power up to 61 MH-60M aircraft procured by the U.S. Army for its Special Operations applications. Initial production deliveries are scheduled to start in 2008.

GE's successful T700/CT7 family of turboprop and turboshaft engines powers 25 types of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft in service with more than 130 customers in more than 50 countries.