GE Aviation’s T901-GE-900 engine has been selected for the US Army’s Improved Turbine Engine Program’s (ITEP) engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase.

ITEP is a US Army project to re-engine Boeing AH-64 Apache and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, as well as the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, under the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme.

Selected by the US Army Contracting Command (ACC), the new developmental T901-GE-900 powerplant will replace the GE T700.

GE competed with the Advanced Turbine Engine Company (ATEC), a joint venture between Honeywell International and Pratt & Whitney.

So far, GE has invested $9bn in maturing technologies for the T901 engine and spent more than $300m on the development and testing of turboshaft-specific technologies.



GE Aviation military business president and CEO Tony Mathis said: “We are honoured to be chosen by the army to continue powering their Black Hawks and Apaches for decades to come.

“We’ve invested in the resources and infrastructure to execute immediately, and our team is ready to get to work on delivering the improved capabilities of the T901 to the warfighter.”

“In the past decade, a total of over $10bn has been invested in the company’s supply chain that is ready to support the delivery of T901 engines to the army.”

The turboshaft design, manufacturing, assembly and testing on the T901 will be carried out at Lynn, Massachusetts; Auburn and Huntsville, Alabama; Norwich, Connecticut; Newark, Delaware; Loves Park, Illinois; and Jacksonville, Florida.

Other locations include Madisonville, Kentucky; Grand Rapids and Muskegon, Michigan; Hookset, New Hampshire; Asheville, North Carolina; West Chester Evendale and Dayton, Ohio; and Rutland, Vermont.

The company has financed the development of eight new facilities, ten plant expansions and a 1.5 million square foot advanced manufacturing space in the US.

In the past decade, a total of over $10bn has been invested in the company’s supply chain that is ready to support the delivery of T901 engines to the army.

Leveraging GE T700 engine’s single-spool core architecture, the T901 will provide superior fix-forward maintainability and reduced lifecycle costs.

Integrated on Black Hawk and Apache helicopters, the T700 engine has achieved more than 100 million flight hours of combat-proven experience over the past four decades.

In April, the US Army and GE conducted the preliminary design review (PDR) of the T901-GE-900 engine.