ANA (All Nippon Airways) is the launch
customer for the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000
engine being developed for the Boeing
787 Dreamliner in Japan, which is due
to enter commercial service with ANA in
2008.
As launch engine on the Boeing 787, the
Trent 1000 was the first of the aircraft’s
powerplants to run, and will also be the
first in the air when it takes to the
skies on a Rolls-Royce Boeing 747 flying
test bed in 2007.
The first test bed run was achieved exactly
to schedule against the date of 14 February
2006 set almost three years earlier. Senior
executives from ANA, which has placed
an order for 50 Boeing 787 aircraft, took
part in a Trent 1000 “Final Bolt”
ceremony at the Rolls-Royce facility in
Derby, UK, symbolically marking completion
of the first engine, before it was passed
to test.
Following certification by the airworthiness
authorities in 2007, it will power the
787 Dreamliner’s first flight.
Japanese industry is playing a major part
in the Trent 1000 programme, which is
a Japan National Project, with Mitsubishi
Heavy Industries (MHI) and Kawasaki Heavy
Industries (KHI) both becoming risk and
revenue sharing partners (RRSPs) on the
engine in 2004.
KHI is responsible for the supply and
assembly of the intermediate pressure
compressor module, will have a significant
share in the programme, and the first
time KHI has produced a complete module.
It may also carry out part of the engine
testing programme on the Trent 1000.
MHI has also taken a significant share
in the programme by supplying the combustor
and low pressure turbine blades.
KHI, MHI and ANA are also deeply involved
in the design of components, with teams
based in Derby, UK and Japan.
In 2005 Rolls-Royce extended its links
with Japanese industry on the Trent 1000
programme by selecting Sumitomo Precision
Products to supply the heat management
system for the engine.
Sumitomo, which has a long history of
working with Rolls-Royce on a range of
engines, will ensure the heat management
system maintains the optimum temperatures
of aviation fuel and lubricating oil in
flight, maintaining safe and efficiency
engine operation at all times.
Sumitomo is already a supplier on the
Trent 500, 700 and 800 engines and on
the mid-range Rolls-Royce BR700 and IAE
V2500 programmes.
Japanese industry is represented on every
mark of the Trent engine.
- Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries
(IHI), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI)
and Marubeni Corporation are Risk and
Revenue Sharing Partners (RRSPs) on
the Trent 700, which entered service
on the Airbus A330 in 1995.
- IHI, KHI and Marubeni Corporation
are RRSPs on the Trent 800, which entered
service on the Boeing 777 in 1996.
- IHI, KHI and Marubeni Corporation
are RRSPs on the Trent 500, which entered
service on the Airbus A340-600 in 2002.
- Marubeni Corporation is a RRSP, while
IHI and KHI are Programme Associates,
on the Trent 900, which will enter service
on the Airbus A380.
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Japan's involvement and expertise is also
central to the highly successful International
Aero Engines consortium, or IAE, which produces
the mid-size V2500 engine for the Airbus
A320 series.
The Japanese Aero Engines Corporation, or
JAEC, comprising IHI, MHI and KHI, was a
founding member when the consortium was
formed in the 1980s and it has a 23 per
cent share in the V2500 programme.
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