Roll-Royce's T56 turboprop upgrades

[fltsload]

Rolls-Royce modifications to legacy C-130H T56 turboprop engines yielded even better fuel economy and reliability than predicted in recent trials at Edwards AFB, Calif., announced the company on Dec. 10. "The Air Force flight test team "confirmed that by inserting new technology, we can bring dramatic improvements in fuel consumption and engine reliability to C-130 operators," said Tom Hartmann, Rolls-Royce's senior vice president, in the company's release. Flying a C-130H fitted with both standard and modified T56 engines, testers at Edwards found that Roll-Royce's Series 3.5 upgrades reduced fuel burn by nearly 10 percent and increased reliability by 22 percent, according to the release. The Series 3.5 modifications include fitting new turbine blades and compressor vanes, which the company says maintainers could perform during regular depot maintenance. These modifications could save the Air Force as much as $2 billion across the legacy C-130 fleet out to 2040, asserts Rolls-Royce.

[PerfManJ]

I worked on the test program and the fuel efficiency savings of the Series 3.5 upgrade are pretty significant. There is also potential to increase takeoff power under certain conditions, but that will probably be addressed in the future. Another component of the Series 3.5 upgrade is the addition of the UTAS (formerly Hamilton-Sundstrand) Electronic Propeller Control System (EPCS) which improves maintainability and reliability over of the mechanical system. I'm not sure if the reliability numbers quoted by Rolls-Royce account for the EPCS.