Rolls-Royce has delivered the 100th Pearl 15 turbofan to Bombardier for the Global 5500/6500, reaching the milestone a little more than three years after unveiling the Pearl family and less than two years after the engine entered service.
In May 2018, Rolls-Royce revealed the Pearl 15 as the first variant of a new engine family that could have a potential range from 10,000 to 20,000 pounds of thrust and employ key technologies derived from the company’s Advance2 engine demonstrator program. The Pearl was built around a new core with new high-pressure compressor, advanced engine health monitoring, low-emissions combustor, and two-stage shroudless high-pressure turbines.
The 15,125-pound-thrust (ISA+15) Pearl 15 was unique in that it fit within the same nacelle package as the Global 5500/6500 predecessors, the Global 5000/6000. Rolls-Royce provided the BR710 engines powering the earlier models.
Developed and built at Rolls-Royce’s Center of Excellence for Business Aviation engines in Dahlewitz, Germany, the Pearl 15 provides up to 9 percent more thrust during climb but improved efficiency at the same time. The Pearl 15 entered service on the Bombardier 6500 in late September 2019.
“This engine delivery milestone is important for us—demonstrating the program’s maturity and confirming our confidence in the potential of the Pearl family,” said Nuno Taborda, senior v-p of production programs for Rolls-Royce Deutschland. “I would like to thank everyone at Bombardier for their continued close teamwork with us to make this aircraft and engine such a great success.”
Paul Sislian, executive v-p operations and operational excellence at Bombardier, praised “the dedicated teams at Rolls-Royce for their innovation and commitment to excellence.” He added, “This milestone delivery signals the success of the Global 5500 and Global 6500 business jets since their entry into service, and the Pearl 15 engine contributes to providing our customers with an outstanding flight experience and a smooth ride.”
In addition to the Global models, Rolls-Royce is developing the Pearl 700 for Gulfstream’s G700 and Pearl 10X for the Dassault Falcon 10X, and also produces the BR710 and BR725 business jet engines in Dahlewitz. Outside of business aviation, the center houses the development of Rolls-Royce’s new power gearbox for the UltraFan demonstrator that is to serve as a basis for a potential new family of engines for narrowbody and widebody airliners.