Rolls-Royce achieves HEETE milestone

INDIANAPOLIS, May 20 (UPI) -- Rolls-Royce's Indiana-based operations announced a milestone achievement in the development of the Highly Efficient Embedded Turbine Engine program.

Rolls-Royce officials say their LibertyWorks research unit has successfully completed a HEETE conceptual design and a preliminary design review by U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.

HEETE technology is an initiative by the Air Force to increase unmanned aircraft vehicle engine fuel efficiency by reducing specific fuel consumption for embedded engine applications as part of the versatile affordable advanced turbine engines program.

"The LibertyWorks HEETE program is performing extremely well to cost and schedule, and delivering to the required goals," Phil Burkholder, Rolls-Royce LibertyWorks chief operating officer, said in a statement. "Efforts will now shift toward the detailed design phase of the HEETE compressor rig program."