Story ID: 
Honda Expands North Carolina Footprint
By: AIN Staff
Caption: More parts of Honda’s aerospace puzzle are coming together as the company announced today that its GE Honda HF120 turbofan engines (2,000-pound-thrust clas
Word Count: 140
More parts of Honda’s aerospace puzzle are coming together as the company announced today that its GE Honda HF120 turbofan engines (2,000-pound-thrust class) would be made in North Carolina, where the HondaJet will be manufactured. To date, the engine has been selected to power the Spectrum Freedom and the HondaJet. Honda said it would construct at the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport a $27 million, 102,000-sq-ft engine manufacture, support and repair plant that would begin operations in 2010. Honda plans to employ around 70 people there, and initial production is pegged at 200 engines per year. The HF120 is a higher-thrust successor to Honda’s original HF118 prototype engine and is a joint venture between GE and Honda. Representatives said the engine will include composite structures, including the exit guide vanes. The first core test of the GE Honda HF120 was conducted earlier this year.