Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to Participate in Project to Develop P&W's PW1200G Jet Engine for the MRJ

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has concluded an agreement with Pratt & Whitney (P&W) of the United States under which it will participate in a project to develop that company's new jet engine, the PurePower® PW1200G, to power the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), MHI's next-generation regional jet. MHI will undertake development and manufacture of the new engine's combustors, high pressure turbine disks and diffuser cases as well as final engine assembly and operational testing of delivered products. These various tasks will be carried out at MHI's Nagoya Guidance & Propulsion Systems Works in Komaki City, Aichi Prefecture.

Development specimens of the combustors and diffuser cases have already been delivered from the Nagoya plant to P&W, arrangements for the tooling and equipment for the final assembly and operational testing procedures have been completed, and the engine test cell has been modified as necessary. Additionally, because final assembly must conform with P&W's technical demands pertaining to the forms of all engine parts, the Nagoya plant is currently coordinating with P&W to develop the required final assembly management system.

The PW1200G, long under development by P&W, represents the latest achievement in high-efficiency engines. Adoption of the company's proprietary "Geared Turbofan™" (GTF) technology has enabled high-speed rotation of the low-pressure spool (turbine) to attain optimal efficiency, while the fan is rotated at low speed to achieve a significant reduction in noise. The new engine achieves a greater than 15% increase in fuel efficiency along with dramatically enhanced environmental performance.

MHI's track record in the development and manufacture of engines for commercial aircraft includes participation in projects relating to P&W's large-scale PW4000 jet engine, International Aero Engines' (IAE) V2500, and Rolls-Royce's TRENT 1000. In autumn 2011, the company also took part in a project involving P&W's Pure Power PW1100G-JM (for the Airbus A320 Family), which also features the GTF technology.

Through its participation in the manufacture and assembly of the PW1200G engine, MHI looks to further strengthen its international competitiveness in commercial aircraft engine technology. It also expects this initiative to give impetus to the smooth promotion of the MRJ project as well as to the new aircraft's market penetration.