The General Electric GE38 is a

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...

developed by

GE Aviation GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric, is headquartered in Evendale, Ohio, outside Cincinnati. GE Aviation is among the top aircraft engine suppliers, and offers engines for the majority of commercial aircraft. GE Aviation is part of the ...

for

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

and

turboshaft A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaftpower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the exhaust ...

applications. It powers the

Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion The Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion (Sikorsky S-95) is a heavy-lift cargo helicopter designed and produced by Sikorsky Aircraft. The King Stallion is an evolution of the long running CH-53 series of helicopters which have been in continuous ser ...

as the T408.

Design and development

The GE27 was developed in the early 1980s under the "Modern Technology Demonstrator Engines" (MTDE) program sponsored by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Aviation Applied Technology Directorate. Sporting a 22:1 pressure ratio, which was a record for single-spool

compressor A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor. Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can transp ...

s at the time, the GE27 was GE's unsuccessful submission to power the

Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities. It is designed to combine the functionality of a convention ...

tiltrotor A tiltrotor is an aircraft which generates lift and propulsion by way of one or more powered rotors (sometimes called ''proprotors'') mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles usually at the ends of a fixed wing. Almost all tiltrotors use a trans ...

aircraft. The GE27 also had a compressor air flow of and a turbine temperature of . The GE27 first ran in late 1984, but it unexpectedly lost the V-22 engine competition to the Allison 501-M80C, which was not a participant in the MTDE program. In the late 1980s, GE used the GE27 as the basis for the commercial development of

turboshafts A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaftpower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the exhaust a ...

turboprops A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch t ...

turbofans The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which achieves mechanical ...

, and

propfan A propfan, also called an open rotor engine, or unducted fan (as opposed to a ducted fan), is a type of aircraft engine related in concept to both the turboprop and turbofan, but distinct from both. The design is intended to offer the speed an ...

s under the GE38 name. GE formed a 50/50 venture with Garrett (then a division of

AlliedSignal AlliedSignal was an American aerospace, automotive and engineering company created through the 1985 merger of Allied Corp. and Signal Companies. It subsequently purchased Honeywell for $14.8 billion in 1999, and thereafter adopted the Honeywell n ...

) to develop the turbofan variant called the CFE (Commercial Fan Engines)

CFE738 The CFE CFE738 is a small turbofan engine aimed at the business/commuter jet market manufactured by the CFE Company, and is used on the Dassault Falcon 2000. Design and development The success of the GE27/GLC38 gas generator development of the ...

, which used the GE27's gas generator core. One of a range of advertised GE38

unducted fan A propfan, also called an open rotor engine, or unducted fan (as opposed to a ducted fan), is a type of aircraft engine related in concept to both the turboprop and turbofan, but distinct from both. The design is intended to offer the speed an ...

(UDF) sizes, the takeoff thrust GE38-B5 was for a time the baseline engine for the West German-Chinese

MPC-75 MPC 75 was an aircraft project of the company "MPC Aircraft GmbH" a subsidiary of "Deutsche Airbus". Work on the project was done mainly between 1988 and 1992 in Hamburg, Germany. Predevelopment work was finished, however the project never got ...

regional airliner. The GE38 became the ''T407'' military turboprop in partnership with

Lycoming Engines Lycoming Engines is a major American manufacturer of aircraft engines. With a factory in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Lycoming produces a line of horizontally opposed, air-cooled, four, six and eight-cylinder engines including the only FAA-certi ...

for the

Lockheed P-7 The Lockheed P-7 was a four turboprop-engined patrol aircraft ordered by the U.S. Navy as a replacement for the P-3 Orion. The external configuration of the aircraft was to be very similar to that of the P-3. Development had not progressed very mu ...

A, with a maximum takeoff power of 6,000 shp (4,475 kW). First run on December 26, 1989, the T407 engine was scheduled to undergo

flight testing Flight testing is a branch of aeronautical engineering that develops specialist equipment required for testing aircraft behaviour and systems. Instrumentation systems are developed using proprietary transducers and data acquisition systems. D ...

on a

Lockheed P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. Lockheed based it on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner. The commercial version of the T407 was the ''GLC38'' (General Electric/Lycoming Commercial 38), which was unsuccessfully offered for several turboprop airliners in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The new ''T408'' (''GE38-1B'') is slated to power the new

three-engined helicopter for the US Marine Corps. It has a power rating of 7,500 shp. The GE38 completed its first round of ground testing in May 2010. Two test engines have completed over 1,000 hours of ground testing by November 2011. Five test engines will be used in the 5,000-hour test program."GE38 Looking to Take to the Sea"
GE Aviation, January 18, 2011. In September 2019, GE delivered the first production T408 engine to the U.S.

Naval Air Systems Command The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) provides materiel support for aircraft and airborne weapon systems for the United States Navy. It is one of the Echelon II Navy systems commands (SYSCOM), and was established in 1966 as the successor to the ...

(NAVAIR) for the CH-53K. GE also offered the engine to power the U.S. Navy's

Ship-to-Shore Connector The Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC), also known as the LCAC 100 class, is a system proposed by the United States Navy as a replacement for the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC). It will offer an increased capacity to cope with the growing weight of e ...

air-cushioned landing craft An air-cushioned landing craft, also called an LCAC ( landing craft, air cushioned), is a modern variation on the amphibious landing boat. The majority of these craft are small- to mid-sized multi-purpose hovercraft, also known as "over the bea ...

. The T408 was also tested by the U.S. Army and

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

as an alternative powerplant on an N

CH-47 The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem rotor helicopter developed by American rotorcraft company Vertol and manufactured by Boeing Vertol. The Chinook is a heavy-lift helicopter that is among the heaviest lifting Western helicopters. Its name ...

D Chinook testbed helicopter. The helicopter configuration was ground tested beginning in late 2019, followed by an initial flight on September 22, 2020. Conclusion of the test trials was announced on May 12, 2021.

Variants

;T407-GE-400 *

;T408-GE-400 (GE38-1B) * Boeing NCH-47D Chinook (flying testbed) *

;

CFE CFE738 The CFE CFE738 is a small turbofan engine aimed at the business/commuter jet market manufactured by the CFE Company, and is used on the Dassault Falcon 2000. Design and development The success of the GE27/GLC38 gas generator development of th ...

: Turbofan variant of the T407-GE-400, used on the

Dassault Falcon The Dassault Falcon is a family of business jets, manufactured by Dassault Aviation. July 2017 saw the 2,500th Falcon delivered – a Falcon 900LX – since the first Falcon 20 was handed over to a customer in 1965. The fleet has accumula ...

;CPX38: Proposed turboprop engine variant of the GE38-1B ;GE38-3: An class derivative engine under consideration by the U.S. military in 2006 ;GE38-B5: A

contra-rotating Contra-rotating, also referred to as coaxial contra-rotating, is a technique whereby parts of a mechanism rotate in opposite directions about a common axis, usually to minimise the effect of torque. Examples include some aircraft propellers, res ...

, ungeared,

(UDF) derivative with a bare engine weight (including the UDF) of , a UDF diameter of , and a blade count of 11 on one propeller and 9 on the other; provides a

takeoff Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff. For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a t ...

thrust of with a

thrust-specific fuel consumption Thrust-specific fuel consumption (TSFC) is the fuel efficiency of an engine design with respect to thrust output. TSFC may also be thought of as fuel consumption (grams/second) per unit of thrust (newtons, or N), hence ''thrust-specific''. This fi ...

(TSFC) of , and a cruise thrust of with a TSFC of ; proposed for the

MPC 75 MPC 75 was an aircraft project of the company "MPC Aircraft GmbH" a subsidiary of "Deutsche Airbus". Work on the project was done mainly between 1988 and 1992 in Hamburg, Germany. Predevelopment work was finished, however the project never got ...

German-Chinese regional airliner in the late 1980s ;GLC38: Proposed turboprop variant of the T407-GE-400

Applications

* Boeing NCH-47D Chinook (flying testbed) *

Specifications (T408)

References

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

General Electric GE38 page
*
GE38 page on deagel.com
{{USAF gas turbine engines GE38 1980s turboshaft engines