WASHINGTON -- A General Motors Corp. division has been selected to build and test the engine for the tilt-rotor aircraft, an 'aerocopter' being developed for the military that may have wide-ranging civilian uses, the Navy said Tuesday.
The company's Allison Gas Turbine Division of Indianapolis was chosen for a $76.4 million contract to build and test 21 engines between May 1987 and December 1988. Those engines will be delivered to the plane's manufacturer, a partnership of Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. and the Boeing-Vertol Co, the Navy said.
GM beat two major engine manufacturers for the contract -- the General Electric Co. and Pratt and Whitney, a division of United Technologies Corp. of Hartford, Conn. The contract will be awarded after the Navy and Allison agree on a second producer for the engine.
'The key for us now is to get the second source,' said a spokesman for Pratt and Whitney.
But the engine will not 'fully' satisfy the Air Force's performance requirements for the plane, which is to be built for all of the military services, the Navy said.
Air Force spokesmen were not available to discuss Air Force performance requirements for the plane.
The engine will power the V-22 Osprey, a new concept in aviation that combines the ability to land and take off like a helicopter and to cruise like a fixed-wing aircraft. The engines affixed to stubby wings will tilt from a vertical to a horizontal position once the plane has taken off.
'The V-22 represents a major technological breakthrough in aviation to meet both existing military needs and future civilian applications,' the Navy said. It can operate from aircraft carriers and ships that take helicopters to and from unpaved landing areas.
Once built, the aircraft could become a major component of commercial aviation. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has predicted the civilian tilt-rotor business could generate more than $3 billion in annual sales by the year 2000.
In October, the Pentagon signed a memorandum of understanding with NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct a joint study about possible commercial uses of the aircraft. They could include commuter hops between central areas of a city and outlying airports.
The Army may build a 24-seat version to airlift troops into battle. A civilian version could carry up to 30 passengers for 600 miles at speeds of more than 300 mph, according to some estimates.
The Navy, which acts as executive agent for the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, plans to build 629 of the 6,000 horsepower engines for the Osprey between fiscal years 1989 and 1992. No figure was given for production costs.
Navy Secretary John Lehman selected the GM division to build the test engines and the announcement indicated his decision was based more on cost factors than on performance. There was no indication of how much the other two companies had bid.
'Given that Allison's proposal met basic performance requirements, research and development costs became a major factor in the selection,' the Navy announcement said.
