News
Safran Builds Its Business Aviation Base
Tuesday 21st October 2014
New technology, new products and new relationships reflect a commitment to business and general aviation that’s growing by leaps and bounds at Safran, the French propulsion and power systems company.
Investments of “billion of dollars” in new turbine engines and integrated systems will soon begin paying off as the company plays an increasing role as a partner in the business aviation industry and grows geographically in North America, says Peter Lengyel, president and CEO of Safran USA.
Its most visible program is the Snecma Silvercrest turbofan engine selected by Dassault to power the new Falcon 5X and earlier by Cessna for the Citation Longitude. Silvercrest is believed to have won a third application, but Safran won’t comment. Lengyel notes that Silvercrest began flight-testing this year and is on track for certification at the end of 2015.
Safran’s Microturbo company (itself a subsidiary of Turbomeca) earlier this year bought out Pratt & Whitney’s majority share in a partnership to develop and provide the auxiliary power units for the Bombardier Global 7000/8000 and Dassault Falcon 5X, and Microturbo will now lead all future APU programs for business aviation in future collaborations with P&W.
Microturbo also saw its e-APU60 more-electric APU receive FAA certification and enter service on the AgustaWestland AW189 helicopter.
Turbomeca made progress too, delivering its first Arrius 2R engine to Bell Helicopter for the Bell 505 Jet Ranger X light helicopter under its first commercial partnership with the U.S. company.
Another Safran company, Aircelle, is growing its nacelle-supplier role in the business aviation sector, having been selected by Cessna to provide its patented PERT thrust reverser system for Silvercrest engines on the Citation Longitude. Aircelle is also providing the nacelle for Bombardier’s Learjet 85, for which it has responsibility for design, production, supply and support on the complete nacelle package that equips that business jet’s two Pratt & Whitney 307B turbofan engines. Aircelle and Safran provided and integrated the nacelles and their power distribution, cabling and actuators.
Safran’s Messier-Bugatti-Dowty is the exclusive supplier of landing gear for Bombardier’s Global family. One goal is to expand its role in the wheels-and-brakes sector of the business aviation industry through miniaturization of its green-taxi electric-powered mainwheel drive.
Earlier this year Safran consolidated its power activities under a single entity, Labinal Power Systems. It subsequently completed the acquisition of the Aerospace Power Distribution Management Solutions and the Integrated Cockpit Solutions businesses of Eaton, adding them to its activities in the U.S.
The Safran Group’s technologies bring greater competitiveness and performance, lower cost of ownership and green solutions, Lengyel says. “We are experts on more-electric aircraft. We’re leading that charge, and we have a roadmap for that. It’s all part of our group-wide strategy to go beyond propulsion into integrating systems platform-wide,” he adds. “We can totally integrate power management across all systems that were typically mechanical or hydraulic.”
Safran’s presence in North America has more than doubled over the past few years to 7,000 employees at 58 locations in 50 states. “We’re here because our customers are here, and we’re gaining more customers,” says Lengyel. “We’re becoming increasingly integrated into their supply chains and future requirements.” Safran is here at Booth 3259.