Safran Helicopter Engines, previously known as Turbomeca, is a French manufacturer of low- and medium-power gas turbine turboshaft engines for helicopters. The company also produces gas turbine engines for aircraft and missiles, as well as turbines for land, industrial and marine applications.
Since its founding as Turbomeca in 1938, Safran Helicopter Engines has produced over 72,000 turbines.
Over the course of three years, Turbomeca expanded rapidly from an artisanal production to an industrial one to meet the extensive demands of the French aircraft industry. The production figures of the company's first few years of operation indicate this rapid expansion: 18 compressors were produced in 1938, 300 in 1939 and 1,200 in 1940. The factory at Mézières-sur-Seine had only just attained fully operational status in June 1940, when the French Government advised a relocation to the south of France to avoid the German advance. That same month, Turbomeca repositioned its operations to a newly requisitioned workshop in Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre near the Hispano-Suiza engine factory in Tarbes. However, these buildings were quickly found to be too small for its needs, thus, in 1941, a site was acquired in Bordes near Pau.
From 1950, Turbomeca produced the tiny centrifugal flow Palas turbojet, producing 1.6 kN (353 lbf). In addition to the company's own production, the Palas was also produced under license by Blackburn and General Aircraft in the United Kingdom and Continental in the United States. Blackburn had a licence for producing other Turbomeca designs. In 1955, Turbomeca's Artouste II turboshaft engine was adopted for the new Sud Aviation Alouette II helicopter, which became the world's first production turbine-powered helicopter one year later. The Adour would not only be adopted for the Jaguar, but also various other aircraft, such as the BAE Systems Hawk, the McDonnell Douglas T-45 Goshawk, and Mitsubishi T-2 trainer aircraft, as well as the Mitsubishi F-1 ground attack fighter. In excess of 2,800 Adour engines would eventually be produced, reportedly amassing a cumulative total of 7,000,000 flying hours.
Deciding to build on its success with another engine, Rolls-Royce Turbomeca handled development and production of the RTM322 turboshaft engine. In 1995, it was announced that the Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 turboshaft engine had been selected to power the British Army's fleet of AgustaWestland Apache attack helicopters. Over the following decades, the RTM322 engine was adopted by various operators to power a number of rotorcraft, including the NHIndustries NH90 and AgustaWestland AW101 medium-sized transport helicopters, along with the Eurocopter X³, a high speed technology demonstrator. In 2003, it was announced that the joint venture was undertaking the development of an enhanced version of the RTM322, taking the powerplant from the current 2,400shp (1,800 kW) power range to beyond 2,500shp in the near term and potentially 3,300shp in the longer term after further improvements are finalised. Keith Reid, Rolls-Royce Turbomeca international marketing manager, noted that the RM322 had been originally designed with future growth in mind, and that operators had been placing an increasing emphasis upon hot and high flight capabilities, which necessitated more engine power is being available.
In June 1989, another joint venture, MTU Turbomeca Rolls-Royce (MTR) was established as a part of the framework created on behalf of the French and West German governments to develop an advanced multirole battlefield helicopter, the Eurocopter Tiger. Being responsible for developing and producing the Tiger's MTR390 powerplant, MTR was designated as the programme management company responsible for the engine, and was jointly staffed by the partner companies, Turbomeca, Germany's MTU Aero Engines and Britain's Rolls-Royce. In early 2000, an initial production contract was signed by the German Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB) and MTR; valued at DM430 million and comprising 320 engines plus spares, the contract represented the MTU390's clearance for production. Later-built models of the Tiger are furnished with more powerful models of the MTU390 engine than had been installed upon the initial examples.
In 2013, an agreement between Rolls-Royce and Turbomeca to buy out the former's involvement in Rolls-Royce Turbomeca in exchange for around €293 million ($381 million), after which responsibility for undertaking all activities related to the RTM322 engine, including manufacturing and maintenance/services, was transferred to Turbomeca. Accordingly, Rolls-Royce Turbomeca is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Safran Helicopter Engines.
By 2010, Safran Helicopter Engines turbines powered civil, parapublic and defence helicopters for all the leading helicopter manufacturers (mainly Eurocopter, but also AgustaWestland, Sikorsky, Kamov, HAL, NHI).
Engine models
Safran is the world's leading manufacturer of gas turbine engines for both civil and military helicopters. They design, produce, sell and support a complete range of turbine engines for this market. More than 18,000 Safran Helicopter engines already power helicopters built by the world's leading manufacturers: Airbus Helicopters, AVIC, Sikorsky, Bell Helicopter, Finmeccanica Helicopters (formerly AgustaWestland), Denel, Russian Helicopters, HAL, Boeing, etc. In the military sector, Safran powers the Tiger, NH90, Finmeccanica Helicopters A109 Power, AW101 and many others. Helicopters powered by Safran are deployed by 2,500 customers in 150 countries.