Rolls-Royce AE 2100


The Rolls-Royce AE 2100 is a turboprop developed by Allison Engine Company, now part of Rolls-Royce North America. The aircraft was originally known as the GMA 2100, when Allison was a division of former corporate parent General Motors.

Development

On July 11, 1989, Saab-Scania A.B. selected the GMA 2100 to power its new Saab 2000, a 50-seat stretch of the Saab 340 turboprop, in a USD$500 million dollar deal. In July 1990, Industrie Pesawat Terbang Nusantara of Indonesia picked the GMA 2100 as the engine for the twin-engine N-250 regional airliner. Flight testing with a Dowty R373 propeller on a Lockheed P-3 Orion testbed aircraft began on August 23, 1990 and finished after over 50 hours of flight and ground testing.

Design

A derivative of the Allison AE 1107C-Liberty turboshaft engine, the AE 2100 shares the same high-pressure core as that engine, as does the Rolls-Royce AE 3007 turbofan. This core is capable of powering turboprops of up to. The engine is a two-shaft design, and was the first to use dual FADECs to control both engine and propeller. There are four production variants of the engine: the civil AE 2100A, and the military variants which include the AE 2100D2/D2A, AE 2100D3, AE 2100J and AE 2100P.
The AE 2100 engine and gearbox are rated at, but was derated to for the Saab 2000, Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules, and IPTN N-250, respectively. The engine uses six-bladed, all-composite blade Dowty propellers, including the model R381 on the Saab 2000, R414 on the ShinMaywa US-2, R384 on the IPTN N-250, and R391 on the C-130J military transport and the LM-100J civil-certified version of the C-130J. The gearbox has a reduction ratio of about 14 and a mean time before unscheduled removal of over 35,000 hours. The engine has replaceable steel blades and vanes, which are more reliable but heavier than titanium.

Variants

;AE 2100A
;AE 2100C
;AE 2100D2A
;AE 2100D3
;AE 2100 G
;AE 2100J
;AE 2100P
;AE 2100 SD-7

Specifications (AE 2100D2)