Honeywell has won a four-year IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity) contract for new production and spare T55-GA-714A engines that power the US Army’s CH-47 Chinook helicopters. This US$476 million contract award will ensure that the US Army’s Chinook fleet has spare engines to support future missions and available engines for Boeing’s Philadelphia Production Line through 2024 to serve the US Army and foreign partner nations’ new aircraft requirements. The engines will be assembled and tested at Honeywell’s production facility at the company’s Aerospace global headquarters in Phoenix.
“Supporting the US Army Chinook Program is a bedrock principle for Honeywell Aerospace,” said Steven Williams, vice president of Defense Aftermarket, Honeywell Aerospace. “Our mission is manufacturing, maintaining, and modernising T55 engines for the critical heavy-lift mission, and we take this mission seriously. We are very proud to continue our strong relationship with PEO Aviation, the US Army and our warfighter.”
Securing this engine production contract follows a milestone year for the T55 engine. In 2020, Honeywell won a competitive repair and overhaul contract for the T55. In addition, Honeywell completed a new, world-class engine repair and overhaul facility in Phoenix. That move allows the repair and overhaul work on the T55-GA-714A engine to be fulfilled in the same location as new engine production. The T55 centre of excellence provides for a shared workforce, facilities, and engineering resources between both engine lines and delivers up to 20 engines per month to the US Army, foreign military and commercial customers.
Also in 2020, Honeywell entered into a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the US Army to demonstrate and fly its upgraded T55-GA-714C engine on the heavy-lift, twin-engine CH-47F Chinook helicopter. The new 6,000-horsepower engine is 23 percent more powerful and consumes 9 percent less fuel than the current T55. New modifications also make the next-generation T55 easier to maintain with lower operating costs and increased readiness for the warfighter. Work is ongoing now in phase 1 of the program, and ground and flight demonstrations are expected to begin in 2022. The new 714C variant of the T55 is designed to be affordably incorporated into the 714A as an upgrade kit during overhaul at Honeywell’s R&O Center of Excellence or at the Army’s Corpus Christi Army Depot.
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