Rolls-Royce Invests in UK Military Engine Support Capability

December 01, 2014

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Rolls-Royce has announced an £18 million investment in Bristol, UK, to support the TP400 engine. The TP400, produced by the Europrop International engine consortium in which Rolls-Royce is a senior partner, powers the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft which has just entered service with the UK's Royal Air Force (RAF).

The investment will fund the provision of facilities to perform maintenance, repair, and overhaul of the TP400 engines, training for employees, and the conversion of an existing test-bed to be capable of running the engine while on the ground. This will initially be used to support engines in service with the RAF, but will also be available to support service requirements for other A400M customers.

Paul Craig, Rolls-Royce President Customer Service – Defence, said: "This is great news for both our customers and the Bristol site. This new capability will enable us to ensure that the RAF enjoys the same high level of engine support for its latest aircraft as it does for the other Rolls-Royce powered aircraft in its fleet. It also ensures that we can maintain military test capability at Bristol into the future.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "The UK's aerospace is the best in Europe, and is second only to the United States across the world. Investments like this from Rolls-Royce will help to keep us there. The projects we are funding through our aerospace industrial strategy will ensure that Britain develops the most efficient and green aircraft of the future."

Rolls-Royce 's vision is to create better power for a changing world via two main business segments, Aerospace and Land & Sea. These business segments address markets with two strong technology platforms, gas turbines and reciprocating engines.

Aerospace comprises Civil Aerospace and Defence Aerospace. Land & Sea comprises Marine, Nuclear & Energy and Power Systems. On 6 May 2014 Rolls-Royce announced it had signed an agreement to sell its Energy gas turbine and compressor business to Siemens for a £785m cash consideration. On completion, expected before the end of December 2014, Rolls-Royce will receive a further £200 million for a 25 year licensing agreement.

Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 120 countries, comprising more than 380 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers, including 70 navies, and 1,600 energy and nuclear customers.

Our business is focused on the 4Cs:

Cash – improving financial performance.

Annual underlying revenue was £15.5 billion in 2013, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £70.4 billion at 30 June 2014.

In 2013,  Rolls-Royce  invested £1.1 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.

Rolls-Royce  employs over 55,000 people in 45 countries. Over 17,000 of these are engineers.

The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2013 we employed 379 graduates and 288 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes. Globally we have over 1,000 Rolls-Royce STEM ambassadors who are actively involved in education programmes and activities; we have set ourselves a target to reach 6 million people through our STEM outreach activities by 2020.

Source : Rolls Royce