Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British
multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for aviation and other industries. Rolls-Royce is the world's second-largest maker of
aircraft engine
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...
s (after
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
) and has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors.
Rolls-Royce was the world's 16th largest
defence contractor
The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and serv ...
in 2018 when measured by defence revenues.
Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange, where it is a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index
The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...
. At the close of London trading on 28 August 2019, the company had a
market capitalisation
Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders.
Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...
of
£4.656bn, the 85th-largest of any company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange.
The company's
registered office
A registered office is the official address of an incorporated company, association or any other legal entity. Generally it will form part of the public record and is required in most countries where the registered organization or legal entity ...
is at
Kings Place
Kings Place is a building in London’s Kings Cross area, providing music and visual arts venues combined with seven floors of office space. It has housed the editorial offices of ''The Guardian'' newspaper since December 2008 and is the for ...
, near
Kings Cross in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
History
Ownership
Rolls-Royce grew from the engineering business of
Henry Royce
Sir Frederick Henry Royce, 1st Baronet, (27 March 1863 – 22 April 1933) was an English engineer famous for his designs of car and aeroplane engines with a reputation for reliability and longevity. With Charles Rolls (1877–1910) and Claude ...
which was established in 1884 and ten years later began to manufacture dynamos and electric cranes.
Charles Rolls
Charles Stewart Rolls (27 August 1877 – 12 July 1910) was a British motoring and aviation pioneer. With Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce car manufacturing firm. He was the first Briton to be killed in an aeronautical accident with ...
established a separate business with Royce in 1904 because Royce had developed a range of cars which Rolls wanted to sell. A corporate owner was incorporated in 1906 with the name
Rolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero-engine manufacturing business established in 1904 in Manchester by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's good reputation established with his cranes, they ...
.
In 1971 the same company, Rolls-Royce Limited, entered voluntary liquidation because it was unable to meet its financial obligations. It remains in existence today, still in liquidation. Its business and assets were bought by the government using a company created for the purpose named Rolls-Royce (1971) Limited.
Rolls-Royce Motors
Rolls-Royce Motors was a British luxury car manufacturer, created in 1973 during the de-merger of the Rolls-Royce automotive business from the nationalised Rolls-Royce Limited. It produced luxury cars under the Rolls-Royce and Bentley brands. ...
was separated out in 1973. Rolls-Royce (1971) Limited currently carries on the business under the name Rolls-Royce plc.
Rolls-Royce plc returned to the stock market in 1987 under the government of
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
. In 2003 ownership of Rolls-Royce plc was passed to Rolls-Royce Group plc. In the same way, Rolls-Royce Group plc passed ownership on 23 May 2011 to Rolls-Royce Holdings plc.
[Rolls-Royce Holdings plc, Annual Report 2011]
accessed 27 January 2017 Throughout these corporate changes Rolls-Royce plc has remained the principal trading company.
[
;Companies with shares available to the general public
* 1906 company, Rolls-Royce Limited. Its shares became more or less valueless in 1971 and their price sank as low as a penny from a high of £1.25.
:By the time the liquidation was effectively complete those shareholders had received more than £0.60 per share from the liquidation and they may have bought them for around a penny.
* 1971 company, floated as Rolls-Royce plc still owns the principal business but itself was sold to the new holding company in 2003
* 2003 company floated as Rolls-Royce Group plc bought the 1971 company
* 2011 company floated as Rolls-Royce Holdings plc bought the 1971 company from the 2003 company]
Growth
The 1980s saw the introduction of a policy to offer an engine fitment on a much wider range of civil aircraft types, with the company's engines now powering 17 different airliners (and their variants) compared to General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
's 14 and Pratt & Whitney
Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially airlines) and military aviat ...
's 10.
The civil engines business represents the company's main area of growth. Between 2010 and 2018, Rolls-Royce invested £11 billion in facilities and R&D and launched six new civil engines including the Trent XWB
The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB is a high bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc.
In July 2006, the Trent XWB was selected to power exclusively the Airbus A350.
The first engine was run on 14 June 2010,
it first flew on an A380 testbed on 18 ...
and the Pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...
15 for the business aviation market. It secured orders for 2,700 engines for wide-body
A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabi ...
aircraft and business jet
A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pub ...
s. It expects to produce over 600 wide-body engines a year and should power over half of the world's wide-body fleet within a few years, up from 22% a decade before.
Restructuring
In February 2017 Rolls-Royce posted its largest ever pre-tax loss of £4.6 billion; This included a £4.4 billion writedown
A write-off is a reduction of the recognized value of something. In accounting, this is a recognition of the reduced or zero value of an asset. In income tax statements, this is a reduction of taxable income, as a recognition of certain expenses ...
on financial hedges that the company uses to protect itself against currency fluctuations, and a £671 million penalty to settle bribery and corruption charges with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the US Department of Justice, and Brazilian authorities.
On 14 June 2018 the company announced a restructuring of the business to create three simpler decentralised
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group.
Conce ...
units ( civil aerospace, defence
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
and power system
An electric power system is a network of electrical components deployed to supply, transfer, and use electric power. An example of a power system is the electrical grid that provides power to homes and industries within an extended area. The ...
s), to rationalise back office
A back office in most corporations is where work that supports ''front office'' work is done. The front office is the "face" of the company and is all the resources of the company that are used to make sales and interact with customers and client ...
functions and to remove middle management Middle management is the intermediate management level of a hierarchical organization that is subordinate to the executive management and responsible for ‘team leading’ line managers and/or ‘specialist’ line managers. Middle management is i ...
functions. The cost saving
Cost reduction is the process used by companies to reduce their costs and increase their profits. Depending on a company’s services or products, the strategies can vary. Every decision in the product development process affects cost: design i ...
s should amount to £400 million per year by 2020, with an up-front restructuring cost of £500 million. Some 4,600 people are likely to leave the business out of 55,000 employed worldwide, 3,000 job losses from the UK and the rest from elsewhere in the world (15,700 of the employees work in Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
and 10,300 work elsewhere in the United Kingdom).
In August 2018 Rolls-Royce announced it was taking a charge of £554 million to cover faults with some Trent 1000 engines on Boeing 787 Dreamliner
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...
s. Rather than going thousands of hours between inspections, the faults with turbine blades mean the engines currently require inspection every 300 hours of flight. In the same announcement Rolls-Royce said it would spend £450m fixing faults on the Trent 1000 in 2018, £450m in 2019 and £350m in 2020, with the work complete by 2022.
In May 2020, the company announced its intention to cut 20% of its workforce (approximately 9,000 staff) worldwide as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. Around 3,000 job losses were expected in the UK, half of them in Derby.
In February 2021, Rolls-Royce started talks concerning an operational shutdown of its civil aerospace unit that might last for two weeks due to the impact of Covid-19 and its restrictions.
Facilities
Testing
Rolls-Royce's £90 million test bed
A testbed (also spelled test bed) is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computational tools, and new technologies.
The term is used across many disciplines to describe experimental rese ...
80 will be the largest of its kind, sized for engines of up to of thrust.
Design started in 2017, construction began in 2018 and it should be commissioned by mid-2020.
The facility is long, has a tall intake tower and a tall exhaust stack.
Built from 3,450 tons of steel and of concrete, it has a tall and wide enclosed space and it can handle a 66 tons engine including its carrier.[
]X-ray
An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
imaging allows to visualize the position of seals and clearances in real time while an engine is running.
While it was retrofitted on Rolls' test bed 57, test bed 80 is the first to be purpose-designed for industrial radiography
Industrial radiography is a modality of non-destructive testing that uses ionizing radiation to inspect materials and components with the objective of locating and quantifying defects and degradation in material properties that would lead to the f ...
.
To protect from external X-ray like 30 cm (11.8 in.) of lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
, double walls are up to 8.9 ft. (2.7 m) thick (a 5.6-ft. interior wall and 3.3-ft. exterior wall) and provide acoustic insulation.
Canadian prime contractor MDS Aero Support is responsible for design and management, test systems supply, engine adapters, support systems and data acquisition and control while construction is done by Buckingham Group
Buckingham Group Contracting Ltd is a construction company located near Stowe, between Buckingham and Silverstone in north Buckinghamshire which operates throughout England and Wales.
Established originally in 1955 as Buckingham Plant Hire, it in ...
Contracting.
Acquisitions
;Northern Engineering Industries / broken up and sold
In 1988, Rolls-Royce acquired Northern Engineering Industries
Northern Engineering Industries plc (NEI) was a British engineering firm, which for over 10 years was one of the largest employers on Tyneside. Its headquarters were based at the Regent Centre at Gosforth in Newcastle upon Tyne.
History
The com ...
(NEI), based in the North East of England
North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authority ...
, a group of heavy engineering companies mainly associated with electrical generation and power management. The group included Clarke Chapman
Clarke Chapman is a British engineering firm based in Gateshead, which was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange.
History
The company was founded in 1864 in Gateshead by William Clarke (1831–1890). In 1865 Clarke took in a partner, ...
(cranes), Reyrolle (now part of Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
) and Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...
(now part of Siemens steam turbines). The company was renamed Rolls-Royce Industrial Power Group. It was sold off piecemeal over the next decade as the company re-focused on its core aero-engine operations following the recession of the early 1990s.
;Allison Engine Company/Rolls-Royce Corporation
On 21 November 1994, Rolls-Royce announced its intention to acquire the Allison Engine Company
The Allison Engine Company was an American aircraft engine manufacturer. Shortly after the death of James A. Allison, James Allison in 1929 the company was purchased by the Fisher Body, Fisher brothers. Fisher sold the company to General Motors, ...
, an American manufacturer of gas turbines and components for aviation, industrial and marine engines.[Lazonick, William & Prencipe, Andrea.]
Sustaining the Innovation Process: The Case of Rolls-Royce plc
page 18. Retrieved 18 September 2010
Archive
/ref> The two companies had a technical association dating back to the Second World War. Rolls-Royce had previously tried to buy the company when General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
sold it in 1993, but GM opted for a management buyout instead for $370 million. Owing to Allison's involvement in classified and export restricted technology, the 1994 acquisition was subject to investigation to determine the national security implications.[Ashbourne, Alex]
Opening the US Defence Market
''Centre for European Reform'' page 6, October 2000. Retrieved 18 September 2010. On 27 March 1995, the US Department of Defense announced that the ''"deal between Allison Engine Co. and Rolls-Royce does not endanger national security."''[DoD is satisfied that deal between Allison Engine Co. and Rolls Royce does not endanger national security]
''United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
'', 27 March 1995. Retrieved 3 October 2012
Archived
on 14 October 2013. Rolls-Royce was, however, obliged to set up a proxy board A proxy board is a requirement imposed under a Proxy Agreement by the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Security Service on foreign investors seeking to acquire certain American companies. This is for national security reasons and applies mainly ...
to manage Allison and had also to set up a separate company, Allison Advanced Development Company, Inc., to manage classified programmes ''"that involve leading-edge technologies"'' such as the Joint Strike Fighter programme
Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a development and acquisition program intended to replace a wide range of existing fighter, strike, and ground attack aircraft for the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands ...
.[ In 2000, this restriction was replaced by a more flexible ]Special Security Arrangement A proxy board is a requirement imposed under a Proxy Agreement by the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Security Service on foreign investors seeking to acquire certain American companies. This is for national security reasons and applies mainly ...
.[Lorell et a]
Going Global?
page 175, ''RAND Corporation
The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...
'', 2002. Retrieved 18 September 2010
Archive
/ref> In 2001, Rolls-Royce and its LiftSystem was among the group that won the JSF contract for the F-35
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide elect ...
.[Bolkcom, Christopher]
JSF: Background, Status, and Issues
page CRS-4, ''dtic.mil'', 16 June 2003. Retrieved 18 September 2010
Archive
/ref>
The Allison acquisition, at $525 million (equivalent to £328 million), brought four new engine types into the Rolls-Royce civil engine portfolio on seven platforms and several light aircraft applications. Allison is now known as Rolls-Royce Corporation
Rolls-Royce North America, Inc. is a subsidiary of multinational corporation Rolls-Royce plc. The American unit operates under a Special Security Arrangement which allows it to work independently on some of the most sensitive United States defe ...
, part of Rolls-Royce North America
Rolls-Royce North America, Inc. is a subsidiary of multinational corporation Rolls-Royce plc. The American unit operates under a Special Security Arrangement which allows it to work independently on some of the most sensitive United States def ...
.
;Vickers/Vinters
In 1999 Rolls-Royce acquired Vickers plc
Vickers plc was the remainder of Vickers-Armstrongs after the nationalisation of three of its four operating groups: aviation (as a 50% share since 1960 of British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) in 1977), shipbuilding ( Vickers Limited Shipbuilding ...
for its marine businesses. The portion retained is now Vinters Engineering Limited. Rolls-Royce sold Vickers Defence Systems (the other major Vickers area of business) to Alvis plc
Alvis PLC was created when United Scientific Holdings plc acquired the Alvis division of the nationalised vehicle manufacturer British Leyland in 1981. United Scientific maintained its own name until 1992 when the group was renamed Alvis plc ...
in 2002.
;BMW joint venture / Rolls-Royce Deutschland
Rolls-Royce has established a leading position in the corporate and regional airline
A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...
sector through the development of the Tay engine, the Allison acquisition and the consolidation of the BMW Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce Deutschland is a subsidiary of British aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce plc. Its primarily facilities are located at Dahlewitz outside Berlin and Motorenfabrik Oberursel at Oberursel near Frankfurt am Main.
The company was formerly ...
joint venture. In 1999, BMW Rolls-Royce was renamed Rolls-Royce Deutschland and became a 100% owned subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc.
;SAIC joint venture / Optimized Systems and Solutions
Optimized Systems and Solutions Limited (formerly known as Data Systems & Solutions) was founded in 1999 as a joint venture between Rolls-Royce plc and Science Applications International Corporation
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Inc. is an American technology company headquartered in Reston, Virginia that provides government services and information technology support.
History
The original SAIC was created in 196 ...
(SAIC). In early 2006, SAIC exited the joint venture agreement, making Rolls-Royce plc the sole owner.
;Tognum joint venture with Daimler / Rolls-Royce Power Systems Holding GmbH
In March 2011, Rolls-Royce and Daimler AG
The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...
launched a $4.2 billion public tender offer for 100 per cent of the share capital of Tognum AG, the owner of MTU Friedrichshafen
MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH is a German manufacturer of commercial internal combustion engines founded by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl Maybach in 1909. Wilhelm Maybach was the technical director of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG), a predec ...
– a leading high-speed industrial and marine diesel engine manufacturer, which was completed using a 50:50 joint venture company. Rolls-Royce and Daimler AG intend that the joint venture company, which also now incorporates Rolls-Royce's existing Bergen engine business, is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (german: link=no, Börse Frankfurt, former German name – FWB) is the world's 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time).
Organisation
Locat ...
.[
;Aero Engine Controls / Rolls-Royce Controls and Data Services
Following the acquisition of Goodrich by ]United Technologies Corporation
United Technologies Corporation (UTC) was an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut. It researched, developed, and manufactured products in numerous areas, including aircraft engines, aerospace systems ...
in July 2012, Rolls-Royce announced it would purchase Goodrich's 50% share of Aero Engine Controls
Aero Engine Controls is the former name of Rolls-Royce Controls and Data Services. The company produces engine control software, electronic engine controls (EEC), fuel metering units (FMU), fuel pumps and engine actuators for a large number of ...
to become wholly owned by Rolls-Royce.
At the June 2019 Paris Air Show
The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...
, Rolls-Royce announced its acquisition of Siemens' electric propulsion branch (while they are partners on the E-Fan X
The Airbus/Rolls-Royce/Siemens E-Fan X was a hybrid electric aircraft demonstrator being developed by a partnership of Airbus, Rolls-Royce plc and Siemens.
Announced on 28 November 2017, it followed previous electric flight demonstrators towards ...
demonstrator), to be completed in late 2019, employing 180 in Germany and Hungary.
Divestment
Siemens
In May 2014, Rolls-Royce sold its energy gas turbine and compressor business to Siemens for £785 million.
Kongsberg
In July 2018, Rolls-Royce sold its commercial marine business to Kongsberg
Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production ...
for £500 million.
Nuclear services businesses
In September 2019, Rolls-Royce agreed to sell its civil nuclear services businesses in the U.S., Canada, Mondragon France, and Gateshead UK to the Westinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is an American nuclear power company formed in 1999 from the nuclear power division of the original Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It offers nuclear products and services to utilities internationally, includi ...
for an undisclosed sum. These businesses had a revenue of $70 million and about 500 employees in 2018. Rolls-Royce is keeping its nuclear new build and small modular reactor
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a proposed class of nuclear fission reactors, smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, which can be built in one location (such as a factory), then shipped, commissioned, and operated at a separate site. The ...
(SMR) business in the UK. In November 2020, the company announced plans to build up to 16 Rolls-Royce SMR
The Rolls-Royce SMR, also known as the UK SMR, is a small modular reactor (SMR) being developed by the Rolls-Royce (RR) company in the United Kingdom.
The company has been given financial support by the UK Government to develop its design. It i ...
nuclear plants across the UK, continuing its nuclear division operations. In December 2020 Rolls-Royce announced it would sell other foreign parts of its civil nuclear instrumentation and control business to Framatome
Framatome () is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%), and Assystem (5%).
The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water reacto ...
as part of its post-COVID recovery plan, completing the deal involving over 550 employees in November 2021.
Major sales
;Airbus A380
In 1996, Rolls-Royce and Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
signed a memorandum of understanding, specifying the Trent 900
The Rolls-Royce Trent 900 is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc to power the Airbus A380, competing with the Engine Alliance GP7000.
Initially proposed for the Boeing 747-500/600X in July 1996,
this first application was late ...
as the engine of choice for the then A3XX, now the Airbus A380
The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner.
Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...
.
In 2011, Rolls-Royce faced questions concerning incidents with its Trent 900
The Rolls-Royce Trent 900 is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc to power the Airbus A380, competing with the Engine Alliance GP7000.
Initially proposed for the Boeing 747-500/600X in July 1996,
this first application was late ...
Turbofan used to power the Airbus A380 aircraft. One of the engines suffered a partial power loss during a Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...
flight in February 2011. This followed an incident in November 2010 in which an engine disintegrated in flight causing Qantas Flight 32
Qantas Flight 32 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from London to Sydney via Singapore. On 4 November 2010, the aircraft operating the route, an Airbus A380, suffered an uncontained failure in one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 en ...
to make an emergency landing in Singapore. The aircraft was extensively damaged and the airline grounded its fleet of A380s. The problem was traced to a fatigue crack in an oil pipe requiring the replacement of some engines and modifications to the design. Trent-powered A380s operated by Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...
and Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines (abbreviation: SIA) is the flag carrier airline of the Republic of Singapore with its Airline hub, hub located at Singapore Changi Airport. The airline is notable for highlighting the Singapore Girl as its central figure in ...
were also affected. Qantas gradually returned its A380s to service over several months. In June 2011 the airline announced it had agreed to compensation of US$100m from Rolls-Royce.
On 17 April 2015, it was announced that Rolls-Royce had received its largest order to date worth £6.1bn ($9.2bn) to supply engines for 50 Emirates A380 planes.
;Boeing
On 6 April 2004, 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 ...
announced that it had selected both Rolls-Royce and General Electric to power its new 787. Rolls-Royce submitted the Trent 1000
The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 is a high-bypass turbofan engine produced by Rolls-Royce plc, one of the two engine options for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, competing with the General Electric GEnx.
It first ran on 14 February 2006 and first flew on ...
, a further development of that series.
;Airbus A350
In July 2006, Rolls-Royce reached an agreement to supply a new version of the Trent for the revised Airbus A350
The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus.
The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 wi ...
(XWB) jetliner. This engine, the Trent XWB
The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB is a high bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc.
In July 2006, the Trent XWB was selected to power exclusively the Airbus A350.
The first engine was run on 14 June 2010,
it first flew on an A380 testbed on 18 ...
is an engine developed from the Trent 1000
The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 is a high-bypass turbofan engine produced by Rolls-Royce plc, one of the two engine options for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, competing with the General Electric GEnx.
It first ran on 14 February 2006 and first flew on ...
, a variant of which was offered for the original A350 proposal. As of July 2015, over 1,500 engines of this type have been supplied to 40 customers.
In October 2006, Rolls-Royce suspended production of its Trent 900
The Rolls-Royce Trent 900 is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc to power the Airbus A380, competing with the Engine Alliance GP7000.
Initially proposed for the Boeing 747-500/600X in July 1996,
this first application was late ...
engine because of delays by Airbus on the delivery of the A380
The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner.
Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...
superjumbo. Rolls-Royce announced in October 2007 that production of the Trent 900 had been restarted after a twelve-month suspension caused by delays to the A380.
;Panavia Tornado, Eurofighter Typhoon and Lightning II
On the military side, Rolls-Royce, in co-operation with other European manufacturers, has been a major contractor for the RB199
The Turbo-Union RB199 is a turbofan jet engine designed and built in the early 1970s by Turbo-Union, a joint venture between Rolls-Royce, MTU and Aeritalia. The only production application was the Panavia Tornado.
Design and development
The R ...
which in several variants powers the Panavia Tornado
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (inter ...
, and also for the EJ200
The Eurojet EJ200 is a military low-bypass turbofan used as the powerplant of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The engine is largely based on the Rolls-Royce XG-40 technology demonstrator, which was developed in the 1980s. The EJ200 is built by the E ...
engine for the Eurofighter Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo ...
. Rolls-Royce has matured the Rolls-Royce LiftSystem
The Rolls-Royce LiftSystem, together with the F135 engine, is an aircraft propulsion system designed for use in the STOVL variant of the F-35 Lightning II. The complete system, known as the Integrated Lift Fan Propulsion System (ILFPS), was aw ...
invented by Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
for the F-35 Lightning II to production level; The F-35 is planned to be produced in significant numbers.
;Air China
At the 2005 Paris Air Show
The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...
, Rolls-Royce secured in excess of $1 billion worth of orders. The firm received $800m worth of orders from Air China
Air China Limited () is the flag carrier of the People's Republic of China and one of the "Big Three" mainland Chinese airlines (alongside China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines). Air China's headquarters are in Shunyi District, ...
to supply its 20 Airbus A330
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus.
Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...
jets.
;Qatar Airways
On 18 June 2007, Rolls-Royce announced at the 2007 Paris Air Show that it had signed its biggest ever contract with Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. ( ar, القطرية, ''al-Qaṭariya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke netw ...
for the Trent XWB to power 80 A350s on order from Airbus worth $5.6 billion at list prices. On 11 November 2007, another large contract was announced at the Dubai Airshow
The Dubai Airshow ( ar, معرض دبي للطيران) is a biennial air show held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in ...
from Emirates
Emirates may refer to:
* United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country
* Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir
** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf
** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual emirates
* The Emirat ...
for Trent XWBs to power 50 A350-900 and 20 A350-1000 aircraft with 50 option rights. Due to be delivered from 2014, the order is potentially worth up to 8.4 billion US Dollars at list prices, including options.
On 20 November 2007, Rolls-Royce announced plans to build its first Asian aero engine facility in the Seletar Aerospace Park
Seletar Aerospace Park is an industrial park in Singapore catering to the aerospace industries. Located in Seletar, the plan to develop 140 hectares of land adjacent to Seletar Airport will further strengthen Singapore's position as an aviatio ...
, Singapore. The $562m (£355m) plant complements its existing facility at Derby by concentrating on the assembly and testing of large civil engines, including Trent 1000 and Trent XWB. Productivity will be higher than at Derby, as the plant is fully integrated, as opposed to manufacturing occurring across five sites in the UK: a Trent 900 will take only 14 days to manufacture, as opposed to 20 in the UK. Originally expected to provide employment for 330 people, by the start of production in 2012, 1,600 employees were based in Singapore.
;Nuclear submarines
In May 2012, Rolls-Royce Marine Power Operations
Rolls-Royce Submarines, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc, operates three sites licensed to handle nuclear material, two of which are at Raynesway in Derby, and the other at Vulcan Nuclear Reactor Testing Establishment (NRTE), Dounreay, UK.
The ...
won a Ministry of Defence contract worth more than £400 million for the integration of the reactor design, the PWR3, for UK's next generation nuclear-armed submarines.
Corruption allegations
Rolls-Royce has been accused numerous times of corrupt practices and bribery
Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...
. Most recently, in 2014, facing allegations of bribery in the aftermath of the Sudhir Choudhrie
Sudhir Choudhrie (born September 1949) is an Indian-born and London-based businessman with interests in healthcare, aviation, and hospitality.
Early life
Sudhir Choudhrie was born in September 1949, and raised in Delhi by his mother, after his ...
affair, Rolls-Royce offered to return money to the Indian government. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) also investigated allegations of bribery in Indonesia and China.
In February 2015 Rolls-Royce was accused of bribing an employee of Brazil's state-controlled oil company to win a $100 million contract to provide gas turbines for oil platforms.
In October 2016 a joint ''Guardian'' and BBC investigation alleged widespread corruption by Rolls-Royce through middlemen in foreign countries including Brazil, India, China, Indonesia, South Africa, Angola, Iraq, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. Rolls-Royce became subject to a major SFO investigation.
Alleged defects
In 2013 media reported allegations from two American ex-employees that thousands of the company's new jet engines
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term typicall ...
were assembled with used parts.
Settlement with SFO
In January 2017 Rolls-Royce came to an agreement with the SFO to pay £671 million under a deferred prosecution agreement A deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), which is very similar to a non-prosecution agreement (NPA), is a voluntary alternative to adjudication in which a prosecutor agrees to grant amnesty in exchange for the defendant agreeing to fulfill certain ...
to avoid prosecution for bribery to obtain export contracts. As part of this agreement, a $170 million fine was paid to US authorities to end a bribery investigation, and $25 million to the Brazilian authorities.[
Subsequent to the settlement, '']Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satire, satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely r ...
'' reported that some of Rolls-Royce's contracts under the scope of the SFO investigation had been supported by the British government's UK Export Finance
, type = Department
, logo = UK Export Finance logo.svg
, logo_width = 150
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, picture = Government Offices Great George Street. ...
department, using taxpayers' money. The government department underwrote multimillion-pound liabilities under Rolls-Royce contracts secured with the help of bribes and "facilitation" commissions. It has also been highlighted in the press that Rolls-Royce's auditor since 1995, KPMG
KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations.
Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
, had failed to identify any corrupt practices throughout the 1990s and 2000s. This is notable considering judge Brian Leveson
Sir Brian Henry Leveson (; born 22 June 1949) is a retired English judge who served as the President of the Queen's Bench Division and Head of Criminal Justice.
Leveson chaired the public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the ...
's statement that Rolls-Royce's offending was "multi-jurisdictional, numerous", "persistent and spanned from 1989 until 2013", and it "involved substantial funds being made available to fund bribe payments".
Governance
the board of directors
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
consists of:
* Sir Ian Davis, Chairman
* Warren East, Chief Executive
* Panos Kakoullis, Chief Financial Officer
* Paul Adams, Independent Non-Executive Director
* George Culmer, Independent Non-Executive Director
* Irene Dorner, Independent Non-Executive Director
* Anita Frew, Independent Non-Executive Director and Chair Designate
* Beverly Goulet, Independent Non-Executive Director
* Lee Hsien Yang, Independent Non-Executive Director
* Nick Luff, Independent Non-Executive Director
* Sir Kevin Smith, Senior Independent Director
* Dame Angela Strank, Independent Non-Executive Director
* Pamela Coles, Company Secretary and Chief Governance Officer
Products
Rolls-Royce's aerospace business makes commercial and military 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 ...
engines for military, civil, and corporate aircraft customers worldwide. In the United States, the company makes engines for regional and corporate jets, helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
s, and 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 ...
aircraft. Rolls-Royce also constructs and installs power generation
A generation refers to all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It can also be described as, "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–30 years, during which children are born and gr ...
systems. Its core gas turbine technology has created one of the broadest product ranges of aero-engines in the world, with 50,000 engines in service with 500 airlines, 2,400 corporate and utility operators and more than 100 armed forces, powering both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft
A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotary wings or rotor blades, which generate lift by rotating around a vertical mast. Several rotor blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The Internat ...
. Rolls-Royce Marine Power Operations
Rolls-Royce Submarines, a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc, operates three sites licensed to handle nuclear material, two of which are at Raynesway in Derby, and the other at Vulcan Nuclear Reactor Testing Establishment (NRTE), Dounreay, UK.
The ...
(a subsidiary company) manufactures and tests nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...
s for Royal Naval submarines
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely o ...
.
Aerospace
In 2019, Rolls-Royce delivered 510 Trent
Trent may refer to:
Places Italy
* Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom
* Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany
* Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States
* Trent, California, ...
powerplants, while 5,029 large engines were installed, including 32% Trent 700
The Rolls-Royce Trent 700 is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc to power the Airbus A330.
Rolls-Royce was studying a RB211 development for the A330 at its launch in June 1987.
It was first selected by Cathay Pacific in April ...
s.
For business jet
A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pub ...
s, research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
in the market niche
A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused. The market niche defines the product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that it ...
s is a $2 billion annual investment, for a predicted market of 8,500 to 9,000 aircraft over the 2020 decade.
Turbojets
* Rolls-Royce Avon
The Rolls-Royce Avon was the first axial flow jet engine designed and produced by Rolls-Royce. Introduced in 1950, the engine went on to become one of their most successful post-World War II engine designs. It was used in a wide variety of ai ...
* Rolls-Royce Viper
The Armstrong Siddeley Viper is a British turbojet engine developed and produced by Armstrong Siddeley and then by its successor companies Bristol Siddeley and Rolls-Royce Limited. It entered service in 1953 and remained in use with the Royal ...
* Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593
The Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 was an Anglo-French turbojet with reheat (afterburners), which powered the supersonic airliner Concorde. It was initially a joint project between Bristol Siddeley Engines Limited (BSEL) and Snecma, derived ...
* Rolls-Royce RB162
The Rolls-Royce RB.162 is a lightweight British turbojet engine produced by Rolls-Royce Limited. Developed in the early 1960s, it was specially designed for use as a lift engine for VTOL aircraft but was also used in a later variant of the Ha ...
Turbofans
* Eurojet EJ200
The Eurojet EJ200 is a military low-bypass turbofan used as the powerplant of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The engine is largely based on the Rolls-Royce XG-40 technology demonstrator, which was developed in the 1980s. The EJ200 is built by the Eu ...
* General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136
The General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 was an advanced turbofan engine being developed by General Electric and Rolls-Royce plc for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The two companies stopped work on the project in December 2011 after failing ...
(not developed)
* International Aero Engines V2500
The IAE V2500 is a two-shaft high-bypass turbofan engine built by International Aero Engines (IAE) which powers the Airbus A320 family, the McDonnell Douglas MD-90, and the Embraer C-390 Millennium.
The engine's name is a combination of the Roma ...
* Rolls-Royce AE 3007
The Rolls-Royce AE 3007 (US military: F137) is a turbofan engine produced by Rolls-Royce North America, sharing a common core with the Rolls-Royce T406 (AE 1107) and AE 2100. The engine was originally developed by the Allison Engine Company, he ...
* Rolls-Royce BR700
The Rolls-Royce BR700 family of turbofan engines for regional jets and corporate jets. It was developed by BMW and Rolls-Royce plc through the joint venture BMW Rolls-Royce AeroEngines GmbH, established in 1990. The BR710 first ran in 1995. I ...
* Rolls-Royce Conway
The Rolls-Royce RB.80 Conway was the first turbofan engine to enter service. Development started at Rolls-Royce in the 1940s, but the design was used only briefly, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before other turbofan designs replaced it. H ...
* Rolls-Royce RB211
The Rolls-Royce RB211 is a British family of high-bypass turbofan engines made by Rolls-Royce. The engines are capable of generating of thrust. The RB211 engine was the first production three-spool engine, and turned Rolls-Royce from a signif ...
* Rolls-Royce RB282
The Rolls-Royce RB282 is a new series of twin-spool turbofan engines under development by Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1 ...
(not developed)
* Rolls-Royce Spey
The Rolls-Royce Spey (company designations RB.163 and RB.168 and RB.183) is a low-bypass turbofan engine originally designed and manufactured by Rolls-Royce that has been in widespread service for over 40 years. A co-development version of the ...
* Rolls-Royce Tay
* Rolls-Royce Pegasus
The Rolls-Royce Pegasus, formerly the Bristol Siddeley Pegasus, is a British turbofan engine originally designed by Bristol Siddeley. It was manufactured by Rolls-Royce plc. The engine is not only able to power a jet aircraft forward, but also ...
* Rolls-Royce Trent
The Rolls-Royce Trent is a family of high-bypass turbofans produced by Rolls-Royce Holdings, Rolls-Royce.
It continues the Turbofan#Three-spool, three spool architecture of the Rolls-Royce RB211, RB211 with a maximum thrust ranging from .
L ...
* Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour
The Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour is a two-shaft low bypass turbofan aircraft engine developed by Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Limited, a joint venture between Rolls-Royce (UK) and Turbomeca (France). The engine is named after the Adour, a river in sou ...
* Turbo-Union RB199
The Turbo-Union RB199 is a turbofan jet engine designed and built in the early 1970s by Turbo-Union, a joint venture between Rolls-Royce, MTU and Aeritalia. The only production application was the Panavia Tornado.
Design and development
The R ...
Turboshafts
* LHTEC T800
The LHTEC T800 is a turboshaft engine for rotary wing applications. It is produced by the LHTEC (Light Helicopter Turbine Engine Company), a joint venture between Rolls-Royce plc, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell. The commercial and export version is t ...
(with Honeywell
Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...
)
* MTR390
The MTU Turbomeca Rolls-Royce MTR390 is a turboshaft developed for light helicopter applications by MTU Turbomeca Rolls-Royce (MTR). The engine is designed to power helicopters in the weight range of 5-7 tonnes in both single and twin engine confi ...
(with MTU and Turbomeca)
* Rolls-Royce Gem
The Rolls-Royce Gem is a turboshaft engine developed specifically for the Westland Lynx helicopter in the 1970s. The design started off at de Havilland (hence the name starting with "G") and was passed to Bristol Siddeley as the BS.360. When R ...
* Rolls-Royce Model 250
The Allison Model 250, now known as the Rolls-Royce M250, (US military designations T63 and T703) is a highly successful turboshaft engine family, originally developed by the Allison Engine Company in the early 1960s. The Model 250 has been pro ...
* Rolls-Royce RR300
The Rolls-Royce RR300 is a turbine aircraft engine (turboshaft/turboprop) developed for the light helicopter/general aviation market. Rated at up to 300 shp (224 kW) at take-off power, the RR300 is a rebadged and downrated variant of the ...
* Rolls-Royce RR500
The Rolls-Royce RR500 is a family of small gas turbine engines developed by Rolls-Royce Corporation. The RR500TP turboprop variant was intended for use in small aircraft. The RR500TS was the turboshaft variant designed for light helicopters. De ...
* Rolls-Royce T406
The Rolls-Royce T406 (company designation AE 1107) is a turboshaft engine that powers the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. The engine delivers 6,000 shp (4,470 kW).
Development
In 1982, Detroit Diesel Allison (DDA) prepared a new eng ...
/AE 1107C-Liberty
* Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM322
Turboprops
* Europrop TP400-D6 (as part of Europrop International
Europrop International (EPI) GmbH is a consortium set up in 2002 in the form of a company governed by German law, by the four main European aircraft engine manufacturers, MTU Aero Engines, Safran Aircraft Engines, Rolls-Royce and ITP Aero.
EPI Gm ...
)
* Rolls-Royce AE 2100
The Rolls-Royce AE 2100 is a turboprop developed by Allison Engine Company, now part of Rolls-Royce North America. The engine was originally known as the GMA 2100, when Allison was a division of former corporate parent General Motors.
Developm ...
* Rolls-Royce T56
Rocket engines
* Larch
Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...
* RB545
HOTOL, for Horizontal Take-Off and Landing, was a 1980s British design for a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) spaceplane that was to be powered by an airbreathing jet engine. Development was being conducted by a consortium led by Rolls-Royce and B ...
(HOTOL
HOTOL, for Horizontal Take-Off and Landing, was a 1980s British design for a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) spaceplane that was to be powered by an airbreathing jet engine. Development was being conducted by a consortium led by Rolls-Royce and B ...
)
* RZ.2
Marine
Gas turbines
* AG9140
* MT7
* MT30
* MT50
* RR4500
* Spey SM1A and improved SM1C
* Olympus TM1, TM1A and improved TM3B
* Tyne RM1A and improved RM1C
* WR-21
Propulsion
* Kamewa
AB Karlstads Mekaniska Werkstad (''trans.'' Karlstad Mechanical Works Ltd), known as Kamewa, was a Swedish manufacturing company in the city of Kristinehamn. Kamewa started as a brand name of the controllable-pitch propellers manufactured by KMW ...
and Bird-Johnson Waterjets
* Kamewa Tunnel thruster
* MerMaid
In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Mermaids are sometimes asso ...
pod propulsion
* Ulstein Aquamaster Azimuth thruster
An azimuth thruster is a configuration of marine propellers placed in pods that can be rotated to any horizontal angle (azimuth), making a rudder unnecessary. These give ships better maneuverability than a fixed propeller and rudder system.
Ty ...
* Rolls-Royce MTU Engines
Submarine
* Nato Submarine Rescue System
The NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) is a tri-national project to develop an international submarine rescue system. The system provides a rescue capability primarily to the partner nations of France, Norway and the United Kingdom, but also to ...
* PWR1 reactor
* PWR2 reactor
The Rolls-Royce pressurised water reactor (PWR) series has powered the UK's Royal Navy nuclear submarines since the , commissioned in 1966. The first British nuclear submarine, , was powered by a Westinghouse S5W reactor.
Nuclear reactor desi ...
* PWR3 reactor
* Zebra (battery)
Stabilizers
* Brown Brothers Legacy Stabilizers
* Brown Brothers Neptune or VM Stabilizers
* Brown Brothers Aquarius Stabilizers
See also
* Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom
The aerospace industry of the United Kingdom is the second-largest national aerospace industry in the world (after the United States) and the largest in Europe by turnover, with a global market share of 17% in 2019. In 2020, the industry employed ...
* 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 ...
, competing engine manufacturer
* Pratt & Whitney
Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially airlines) and military aviat ...
, competing engine manufacturer
* Power by the Hour
Aircraft maintenance is the performance of tasks required to ensure the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft or aircraft part, including overhaul, inspection, replacement, defect rectification, and the embodiment of modifications, compliance w ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Gunston, Bill. ''Development of Piston Aero Engines''. Cambridge, UK. Patrick Stephens Limited, 2006. .
* Newhouse, John. ''The Sporty Game: The High-Risk Competitive Business of Making and Selling Commercial Airliners.'' New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982. .
* Pugh, Peter. ''The Magic of a Name: The Rolls-Royce Story, The First 40 Years''. London: Icon Books, 2000. .
* Pugh, Peter. ''The Magic of a Name: The Rolls-Royce Story, Part 2, The Power Behind the Jets''. London: Icon Books, 2001. .
* Pugh, Peter. ''The Magic of a Name: The Rolls-Royce Story, Part 3, A Family of Engines''. London: Icon Books, 2002. .
Footnotes
External links
*
Rolls-Royce's annual report archive
*
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