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GKN Aerospace is expanding its risk- and revenue-sharing partnership with Pratt & Whitney to include manufacturing of low-pressure compressor vanes for the PW1500G and PW1900G engines. The companies announced the agreement on Monday, along with more joint work on additive manufacturing for the large engine cases of the F135 powerplant for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter.
The new contract covers most of the vanes in the Pratt & Whitney engines’ low-pressure system and covers full life-cycle support. The PW1500G and PW1900G turbofans, respectively, power the Airbus A220 and Embraer E-Jet E2 airliners.
According to Joakim Andersson, GKN Aerospace’s engines president, the increased work package will provide long-term stability for the group’s manufacturing plant in Newington, Connecticut. The company has been producing the components on a smaller scale since 2018.
The separate technology development agreement between Pratt & Whitney and GKN will explore the use of additive manufacturing for large structural components. The work is supported by the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency (Norway is an F-35 partner nation).
The project will use GKN’s laser-directed energy deposition with wire process and will mainly be conducted at the company’s facility in Kongsberg, Norway. It aims to produce a full-scale component that is compatible with the F-135 engine design.