Orpheus Engine Family | Transforming Future Engine Development

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Orpheus Engine Family | Transforming Future Engine Development

Think Big. Start Small. Scale Fast.

A world-leading, small engine family pioneered to progress future innovative technology developments for future combat air systems.

Founded on the principles of creating a family of affordable, twin-spool small engines, Orpheus will provide pioneering capability solutions for a broad range of future Defence markets by utilising common engine architectures and technologies that can be rapidly scaled, adapted and tailored for multiple applications.

Drawing on a world-class legacy of engineering expertise and innovation, the Orpheus family range offers the most efficient/low fuel burn engines in this market segment. With embedded electrical power generation capability, the engine family is ready for future, more-electric vehicles.

Demonstrated Development Capability

In just under two years, the two experimental engines have been designed, manufactured and successfully tested, demonstrating the capability required to deliver a new family of scalable and configurable small engines within unprecedented timeframes. These assets will be instrumental in informing critical technology developments for our partners, enabling rapid de-risking of new and novel technologies to enhance their military capability.

“The new Orpheus engine has broken boundaries throughout all stages of the development, design and build as is a clear example of how we can deliver at pace. Throughout this project we have empowered our people to work in agile ways to disrupt our current ways of thinking and develop a product that is truly novel that can help our customers de-risk their future programmes and explore different technologies to enhance their military capability".

Alex Zino - EVP Business Development and Future Programmes, Rolls-Royce Defence

Rapid Innovation for Extraordinary Times

Inspired by the inconceivable, the Orpheus programme is leading a revolution in transforming and developing new ways of working at Rolls-Royce. More than 30 UK-based small and medium sized businesses have worked in partnership on the Orpheus demonstrator engine. This collaboration model has driven maximum benefit from the wider UK industry, reducing product cost and accelerating time to market.

Through the adoption of Agile working practices and underpinned by a rapid-make Supply Chain, we have developed the capability to learn fast through doing, across a fully empowered and aligned engineering team. By utilising innovative engineering techniques, further efficiencies have been achieved, such as the use of Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM). By enabling more rapid manufacture with enhanced functional capabilities previously unachievable through traditional manufacture, we can reduce costs due to the rationalisation of complex assemblies. Our successful engine tests have already included a range of ALM components and the Orpheus programme incorporates plans to develop and demonstrate ALM capability for all major components.

The first twin-spool demonstrator engine was designed, built and tested in only 18 months from design team stand-up – half the time of traditional working practices, using just a third of the engineering resources typically required and delivering the programme at significantly lower cost due to non-recurring cost.

WATCH

Cutaway engine illustration of Orpheus engine

3D Cutaway illustration of Orpheus engine

Orpheus Engine Family Features

- Scalable and Configurable
- Integrated Electrical Capability
- Advanced Turbofan Architecture
- Ultra Low Cost Components
- Reduced Parts Count
- Digital Design and Manufacture