The RACER, with its hybrid helicopter-plane design, is taking shape at Airbus's Helicopters assembly plant at Donauwörth in Bavaria.

The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command's Aviation & Missile Center (CCDC AvMC), Boeing, and GE Aviation expanded the flight envelope in their demonstration of a Chinook helicopter with GE Aviation's T408 engine at Ft. Eustis, Va. The cooperative test team achieved first flight in September 2020, and continues to show how integration of more powerful engines on the CH-47 Chinook can support future aircraft capability and Army Aviation modernization efforts.

The final training step is the Composite Maintenance Trainer (CMT), a full-scale mock-up of the CH-53K aircraft, including replicas of its three T408 engines. Training will begin at Marine Air Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River in Jacksonville, North Carolina. David Karcher, a Lockheed Martin senior specialist mechanic explained, “The benefit to a trainer like this is to create an environment that is somewhat realistic to a real aircraft but has safety in mind.”

The addition makes a total of 24 CH-53K production aircraft now under contract. GE Aviation’s Lynn plant continues to deliver T408 production engines to the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

This first flight is the culmination of a five-year effort under between the Army, Boeing and GE Aviation to evaluate the feasibility and benefits of higher-power engines.

The T700, GE Aviation’s workhorse helicopter engine, has been going strong for 42 years and counting. This spring alone, the company was awarded $242 million in contracts with the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department took Jay Leno for a ride in a T700-powered Sikorsky Firehawk helicopter on his CNBC show Jay Leno's Garage. His take on the T700: “I should get that in my car. That would be alright!”

In the last month alone, GE Aviation has been awarded more than $476 million in contracts to produce military engines and hardware to support the U.S. military and international customers. 

Sikorsky hosted the inaugural flight demonstration of its S-97 Raider™ at its West Palm Beach flight test center. The S-97 Raider, a high-speed coaxial helicopter (possesses a clutched rear propeller to make it go fast or shut off in hover) powered by a single GE YT706 engine, smoothly demonstrated both top-end speed and agility.

GE delivers first production T408 for heavy-lift CH-53K