INDUSTRY INTERVIEW: GE Aviation

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MLF 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 10 (November/December)

Colonel Richard Kind (Ret.)
Manager
Air Force Programs, Wright Patterson AFB
GE Aviation

Colonel Richard Kind (Ret.) joined GE Aviation in August 2000 and is currently the manager of Air Force programs at Wright- Patterson AFB, Ohio. His focus is to represent GE Aviation with the many organizations at Wright-Patterson AFB. Prior to his current position he was the service life extension program manager, overseeing a $700 million program that upgraded the F110 engine that is flown in approximately 2,000 F-15 and F-16 aircraft.

Kind’s active Air Force career encompassed 28 years in the aircraft maintenance and logistics fields, supporting every aircraft in the Air Force inventory. He was a logistics group commander at Spangdahlem AB, Germany, and completed his career as the director of maintenance for the U.S. Air Forces in Europe at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

Q: Please tell us about GE Aviation and the company’s work with the Department of Defense in the logistics arena.

A: GE Aviation is a global provider of engines, systems and services. With an installed commercial base of more than 36,000 engines, a GE or CFM-powered [GE/Snecma joint company] airplane is taking off somewhere in the world every two seconds. With a customer base like this, you can see why we are keenly interested in innovative service solutions. With this large commercial base, we are able to provide military customers with a host of technologies, processes and management systems to help them operate and maintain engines more efficiently.

For example, we have applied the CFM56 core technology to the F-15 and F-16 engines for our F110 service life extension program, otherwise known as SLEP.

This technology, including 3D Aero in the high pressure compressor, helps double the F110 engine time on wing, provides a 25 percent reduction in total ownership cost and lowers fuel consumption. This technology was provided to the United States Air Force [USAF] at a significantly reduced development cost and saves more than $1 billion over the life of the program.

Another initiative that is gaining momentum is performance-based logistics, or PBLs, with programs at both the Navy and the Army. These efforts have significantly improved repair times at the depots and reduced life cycle costs, helping the services thrive in a fiscally constrained environment.

Q: As a major player in the military logistics arena, how is GE Aviation helping DoD meet current key logistics objectives?

A: Engines are considered critical logistics assets to support wartime requirements. The key to maintaining engine fleets across DoD is forecasting. The lead-time for some engine parts is 12 to 18 months, which makes forecasting vital.

We work collaboratively with our DoD and international customers to take a much more proactive and broader view, three to five years in some cases, to determine critical needs. In isolated cases, we also support our military customers by advance releasing engine parts—at our own risk—to ensure they are ready when our customers need them.

Q: What are some of the new programs GE Aviation is working on in partnership with DoD agencies and the military services?

A: The largest program in military aviation today is the Joint Strike Fighter. The Fighter Engine Team [FET] F136 is our 60/40 arrangement with Rolls-Royce to power the F-35 Lightning II.

On the logistics front, the FET is working closely with Lockheed Martin to develop the most advanced support ever for a military aircraft. The goals of this team, called Autonomic Logistics, are to effect a step-change in the maintenance world by employing 21st century digital tools to improve forecasting, diagnostics, information flow and communication to enhance aircraft readiness.

Q: What are some of the main challenges you are facing in meeting the needs of the 21st century warfighter?

A: In the future the aviation industry must produce high-performance engines with significantly reduced fuel consumption. GE is in the process of re-engining the C-5B with a commercial off-the-shelf CF6 engine that delivers 8-13 percent fuel savings and reduces maintenance workload. Furthermore, we have presented upgrade programs that can dramatically improve fuel consumption in the B-1 and KC-135 engines. We look forward to working with the USAF to help it meet its ambitious fuel reduction goals.

We are also working in connection with the USAF on future engine technologies that have the potential to deliver significant increases in range, loiter time and reduced fuel consumption.

Q: Is there a leap ahead in engine technology that can be expected in the near future?

A: GE Aviation is developing a demonstrator engine core and selected critical component risk-reduction activities for the Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology [ADVENT] program. ADVENT involves developing gamechanging technologies for future military and commercial engines. The program, which began in 2008, is developing a variable engine cycle, greater component efficiencies, and new materials technologies to provide future aircraft with far greater range and mission flexibility.

For the past two years, GE has been engaged in ADVENT, which involved preliminary and detailed design, analysis, and risk-deduction activities. This development work involved running a full annular combustor rig, component and rig tests using ceramic matrix composite materials, and testing of a full core engine—consisting of the compressor, combustor, high-pressure turbine—which featured GE’s most advanced compression system. ♦

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