Rolls-Royce has secured 64 million euros in funding from the European Union’s Clean Aviation Partnership for the UNIFIED project (Ultra Novel and Innovative Fully Integrated Engine Demonstrations), a research project that could eventually enable the British engine-maker to return to the medium-haul aircraft market. Led by Rolls-Royce, the project was announced last year and brings together industrial, academic and research partners in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the UK.
This collaborative research project aims to perfect next-generation propulsion technologies for future single-aisle applications, support the planned ground testing of the UltraFan 30 demonstrator in 2028, and help establish a credible pathway to future flight testing. The UNIFIED consortium includes Rolls Royce, Airbus, ITP Aero, Lufthansa Technik, TU Darmstadt, Imperial College London, DLR, NLR, ONERA, INSA Lyon and Aerospace Transmissions Technologies.
As a reminder, the UltraFan 30 is a scaled-down version of the UltraFan technology demonstrator, aimed at making it compatible with a thrust range suitable for future single-aisle aircraft, while the A320neo’s successor, the NGSA (Next Generation Single Aisle) is still to take shape before the end of the decade, for entry into service beyond 2035. Rolls-Royce intends to capitalize on the technological building blocks of its Ultrafan research program in an attempt to reinvest in the highly lucrative medium-haul single-aisle segment, a market currently entirely occupied by CFM International and Pratt & Whitney.
In particular, the Ultrafan is a gearbox engine (like the GTF), compatible with a bypass ratio close to 15, higher than that of Pratt & Whitney’s current PW1100G-JM. As its name suggests, the UltraFan 30 is designed to deliver thrust in the 30,000 lb (133 kN) class.
