Powering the MV-75 Cheyenne II: Q&A with Scott Ames of Rolls-Royce | Rolls-Royce

The AE 1107 is a highly dependable and combat-proven engine designed for the demanding environments of advanced military missions. The AE 1107C has logged about 1.4 million flight hours over two decades of service on the V-22 Osprey and is optimized for tiltrotor operations.

The AE 1107 for MV-75 Cheyenne II builds on that pedigree. In fact, it’s the newest evolution of our AE engine line, combining proven performance and dependability with ultra-modern, advanced features. This extensive experience means the engine design and core are well-understood and inherently low risk.

From an engineering standpoint, the AE 1107 offers world-class power density and modern digital controls. It packs a lot of power into a relatively lightweight package – critical for a high-performance tiltrotor.

It also features cyber-resilient/full-authority digital engine controls and built-in survivability enhancements. Those include an advanced thermal management and infrared suppression system to reduce the aircraft’s heat signature – a crucial factor for survivability.

All of these characteristics – high power, proven reliability, and modern control/safety features – make the AE 1107 very well suited to the MV-75 Cheyenne II’s operational profile.

We support the Army’s plan to accelerate the MV-75 Cheyenne II program. We are confident in the steps we’ve taken to meet a faster timeline, including the use of digital engineering and virtual prototyping, as well as close collaboration with Bell and the Army throughout the process. We are currently conducting engine integration testing that gives us greater confidence every day that we will be able to deliver. 

It's also important to note that the AE 1107 engine which powers the MV-75 Cheyenne II is based on a proven, in-production engine line backed by a robust supply chain. This will be critical to meeting the Army’s accelerated timeline and would be nearly impossible with a clean-sheet engine design.

The AE 1107 is part of the larger Rolls-Royce AE engine family – a versatile and proven engine line with more than 90 million hours of operation across 16 military and commercial platforms. The unique thing about the AE engine family is that it can be configured as a turboshaft, turboprop or turbofan product.

All Rolls-Royce AE engines share a common core architecture featuring established, active production lines – ready to deliver now. There is 80% or more component commonality across all AE engine variants. This commonality yields cost, risk, reliability and maintainability benefits.

It means we aren’t introducing an unproven design; instead, we have an engine core with millions of hours behind it, and many of the parts, tools, and maintenance practices carry over. That translates to a dependable engine optimized for the kind of austere operating environments and high-tempo ops the Army envisions for MV-75 Cheyenne II.

There are three variants of the AE 1107. The AE 1107C powers the V-22 Osprey for the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force. The MT7 is a marinized variant that powers the U.S. Navy’s Ship to Shore Connector. The AE 1107 for MV-75 Cheyenne II is the newest, most advanced variant.

The AE 1107 for MV-75 Cheyenne II features the highest power rating of the three, plus state-of-the-art digital controls and durability enhancements that were not present in earlier versions. For instance, it has a cyber-resilient, advanced FADEC, and built-in engine health monitoring capacity.

The AE 1107 for MV-75 Cheyenne II was designed with the Army’s needs in mind: high power-to-weight, excellent hot-and-high performance, and improved survivability features.

Simply put, it’s the most powerful and modern configuration, purpose-built for the MV-75 FLRAA mission.

Our current testing program involves a mix of component-level tests and full engine tests.

We started with instrumented engine builds on the test stand, running through various power settings to validate performance – like power/thrust output, fuel consumption, etc. We’ve been intentionally stressing the engine: running at maximum power and temperature, transient throttle shifts, simulated one-engine-inoperative conditions – all to prove it meets requirements with margin. We are also doing endurance runs, where the engine operates for many hours continuously to demonstrate reliability and wear characteristics. Specialized tests such as cold starts, and live fire tests for survivability are either underway or planned.

As for specifics, due to operational security, I can’t detail every test done so far. However, I can say that the engine’s performance is meeting our expectations. We’ve seen the benefits of the common-core design – there have been no big surprises because so much of it is a known quantity. The AE 1107 is hitting the power targets we predicted in modeling. By the end of the campaign, we’ll have tested beyond the normal operating envelope to ensure robustness.

The Army has been kept in the loop throughout and observed critical tests. The process is a close collaboration – everyone wants to ensure this engine is fully proven out before it ever lifts an aircraft off the ground. We’re pleased with the progress so far and remain on schedule.

We cannot share specific timelines for engine testing and delivery due to operational security. That being said, we will continue testing in 2026 and are on track to deliver the first set of engines prior to Bell’s delivery of the MV-75 Cheyenne II prototype to the U.S. Army.

We are confident in our ability to deliver at the pace needed by Bell and the Army and are committed to getting this revolutionary capability to our warfighters on an accelerated timeline.

Priority one is delivering mission readiness at scale – not just capability in a demo, but reliability, maintainability, and survivability designed in from the start. This approach is enabled by Rolls-Royce’s industrial base of more than 5,000 workers and hundreds of suppliers. For Rolls-Royce, that’s why we emphasize an integrated propulsion solution, including infrared suppression integration, and why AE-family commonality matters: it reduces uniqueness, supports a stable supply base, and enables faster learning across fleets.

Over time, that approach shapes future platforms toward modular, upgradeable systems and “designed-for-sustainment” architectures – because that’s what keeps aircraft available and affordable through decades of service.