Rolls-Royce (Booth 2043) plans to fly its first Pearl 10X engine for the ultra-long-range Dassault Falcon 10X in the second quarter of next year. Philipp Zeller, Rolls-Royce senior v-p for Dassault, said flight tests of the engine will be conducted on Roll-Royce’s Boeing 747-200 flying testbed in Tucson, Arizona. The tests will involve four engines that collectively will fly for approximately 100 hours. After successful flight testing, the engines will be shipped to Dassault.
Dassault unveiled plans for the 115,000-pound mtow Falcon 10X in May 2021. The French aircraft manufacturer expects the $75 million, 7,500-nm twinjet to enter service in 2025.
The Pearl 10X is the most powerful engine in the Pearl family, with more than 18,250 pounds of thrust and 5 percent lower specific fuel consumption compared with similar previous-generation business jet engines. It features an improved thrust-to-weight ratio while maintaining low noise and emissions performance.
In addition to Dassault, the Pearl family of engines has been selected for Bombardier and Gulfstream ultra-long-range jets. The Pearl 15 currently powers the Bombardier Global 5500 and 6500 large-cabin business jets, with 50 of those aircraft already in service. And the Pearl 700 has been selected for the Gulfstream G700 and G800, both of which are slated to enter service next year.
According to Rolls, the Pearl 15 features the same nacelle envelope as its legacy BR710 powerplant but is more powerful, with a maximum certified thrust of 15,250 pounds, and has up to 7 percent better specific fuel consumption. It is two dB cumulative quieter and shows a 20 percent improvement in NOx emissions margin.
Meanwhile, the Pearl 700 features an 8 percent increase in takeoff thrust and is 5 percent more efficient than the Rolls-Royce BR725 engine that powers the ultra-long-range G650/650ER.
“We are really happy with the way the [10X] program is going,” Zeller said. “We had our first engine run in January and since then are really satisfied with the test results in terms of performance and emissions. It meets all our expectations.”
Rolls-Royce is conducting its final build on the engine and will demonstrate aircraft integration aspects via additional ground testing and engine runs over the next three to four months.
Its new Pearl engines feature an engine vibration health monitoring unit that measures 10,000 parameters, delivering “a very comprehensive insight into the engine performance," said Andy Robinson, Rolls-Royce's senior v-p of services for business aviation. "That enables us to be more proactive and possibly find upcoming issues before they even take place...It is something that we've introduced with the Pearl [engine]. It's a groundbreaking piece of technology. We're working closely with the airframers because it's mounted in the airframe and coupled to both engines.”
The company boasts a 99 percent dispatch rate for its business aircraft engines and is posting record enrollments in its CorporateCare family of engine-support programs, according to Robinson. He said new service plan enrollments, which had been running at about 150 per year, already stood at between 350 and 400 through August.
“It is the best year we have ever had,” he said. To support its growing business aviation engine fleet, the company has added more technicians in Europe and North America. Real-time engine health monitoring for plan enrollees means that Rolls-Royce can dispatch parts and personnel to the aircraft without the customer becoming mired in the purchasing process. “It's a much slicker process, which means greater aircraft availability," Robinson noted.
In addition, Rolls-Royce has made significant investments in digital, launching a new customer portal, the Yocova marketplace, where customers can buy services online directly from the company. “This collaboration platform gives customers single sign-on access to all the capabilities and services and features that we provide. That includes engine health monitoring and new technical publications,” said Robinson.