Pratt & Whitney opens manufacturing facility in Singapore

SELETAR, Singapore, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Pratt & Whitney opened its first manufacturing facility in Singapore, which will be used for the production of its new PurePower Geared Turbofan engine family.

The facility is located at Seletar Aerospace Park, and will support the PurePower engines with the production of fan blades and other key components. Pratt & Whitney Operations Senior Vice President Danny Di Perna says the move strengthens the company's presence in the country, in addition to advancing the production of the engines.

"With the opening of this brand new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to produce our innovative hybrid metallic fan blades and critical turbine rotating components, we are creating much needed manufacturing capacity and capability for our PurePower engine family," Di Perna said in a statement.

Di Perna added Pratt & Whitney has spent over $1 billion around the world to modernize the company's manufacturing infrastructure over the past few years. The new facility in Singapore is the company's second to manufacture its lightweight hybrid metallic blades.

Geared turbofans are designed to reduce the amount of noise produced by aircraft engines. The fans do this by moving over 90 percent of the air around the core using lightweight fan blades. In addition to bringing the noise levels down, the equipment also aims to reduce maintenance costs with fewer airfoils and life-limited parts.