Boeing has enlisted Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace as key partners in the development of the X-66A aircraft for NASA’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project. The two RTX group companies will, respectively, supply Geared Turbofan engines and nacelles and engine accessories, under an agreement announced on Tuesday.
The X-66A airframe features a transonic truss-braced wing with extra-long, thin wings attached to the fuselage with diagonal struts. The Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project has attracted $425 million in funding from the U.S. Aviation Climate Action Plan, as well as some $725 million from Boeing and its partners.
In June, NASA officially designated the planned testbed aircraft as one of its X-plane programs. Boeing is tasked with building and managing a test flight program with a full-scale demonstrator.
According to Pratt & Whitney, its GTF engines are already delivering up to a 20 percent reduction in fuel burn on narrowbody airliners since they entered commercial service in 2016. The company reported this has so far saved more than 1.4 billion gallons of fuel and eliminated over 14 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. Using the turbofans on the X-66A will allow Boeing and NASA to evaluate what further improvements could be achieved with a new airframe design.
The nacelles that sister company Collins will supply are made from lightweight durable composite and metallic materials. The company will also provide control system components for the GTFs, including heat exchangers, the integrated fuel pump and control, the air turbine starter, and electronic controls.
“Collins has a long history of successful partnerships with NASA, Boeing, and Pratt & Whitney, with decades of experience pushing the boundaries of innovation in aerospace,” said Mauro Atalla, the company’s senior vice president for engineering and technology. “Now as part of the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator program, we will work together to demonstrate new technologies and systems to support the next generation of low-emission, single-aisle aircraft that will play an integral role in reducing the environmental footprint of the aviation industry.”
The RTX group includes Raytheon as well as Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace.