COLORADO SPRINGS—As assembly of the first Dassault Falcon 10X gets underway, Rolls-Royce has completed an extensive flight test campaign of the ultra-long-range business aircraft’s Pearl 10X engines.
Mounted on a specially designed test pylon that projected forward from the inboard right wing of Rolls-Royce’s Boeing 747-200 flying testbed, the engine was flown on more than 25 missions over a six-month period starting in late March. Tests began with delivery of the engine on the modified aircraft from L3Harris in Waco, Texas, to Rolls-Royce’s flight test base in Tucson, Arizona, and ended with a final 4.5-hr. test flight on Sept. 26 over Arizona, New Mexico, California and the Pacific.
Rolls says the engine, which was tested at altitudes up to 45,000 ft., and speeds up to Mach 0.90, performed well during the campaign. “All of our test objectives were achieved, we are extremely pleased with the performance and handling of the Pearl 10X engine,” adds the manufacturer. The flight test program included engine performance and handling checks at various speeds and altitudes, inflight relights, tests of the nacelle’s anti-icing system and fan vibration tests at various altitudes.
With thrust rated at 18,000 lb., the Falcon engine is based on Rolls’ Advance 2 demonstrator high-pressure (HP) core. Featuring a blisked titanium fan and four-stage low-pressure turbine, the engine’s 10-stage HP compressor incorporates six stages of titanium blisks while the two-stage HP turbine is shroudless. Additive layer-manufactured tiles are also incorporated into the engine’s low-emissions combustor.
The Pearl 10X, which Dassault selected in 2021, made its first run early the following year. Rolls has three ground test and certification engines in the program and two flight test units, both of which will be shipped to Dassault for use in Falcon 10X flight tests following the recent evaluation on the 747.
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