Despite having lost out to Rolls-Royce in the competition to power Dassault’s still-under-wraps super-midsize Falcon, Snecma is moving ahead with development its Silvercrest engine for business jets. The French manufacturer (Booth No. 824) is here exhibiting a full-size mockup of the 10,000-pound-thrust-class turbofan.
The first Silvercrest core parts have been produced and engineers are now building compressor components. Simultaneously, they are putting together nonmoving subassemblies, according to a Snecma spokes-man, in anticipation of the full-scale program starting by the middle of next year. Between now and then, a demonstrator core engine will be evaluated under a $100 million technology program. The actual core engine should run soon–in the fourth quarter of the year by the latest, the spokesman said. Engine certification is tentatively set for early 2011, depending on the schedule of would-be OEM customers.
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