Core Demonstrator for Highly Efficient Miniature Turbofan

Small expendable gas turbine engines historically suffer from poor thrust-specific fuel consumption and do not meet cost goals for military applications. These engines are single-shaft turbojets and their use in the propulsion system of future advanced munitions such as the Air Force’s Battlespace Access Low Cost Miniature Cruise Missile (LCMCM), limit the munition’s operational capability. Because of their poor fuel consumption, small (<300 lbs thrust SLS) turbojet propulsion systems offer short range and low loiter times. Florida Turbine Technologies, Inc. (FTT) has developed an improved design concept for an expendable gas turbine engine for use in military applications. The new concept addresses key challenges that limit the effective use of small turbojets. FTT focuses the current effort on the development of an efficient, high performance core for the turbofan engine. Early demonstration of the core, scaled from a smaller core engine developed and demonstrated under the Army’s High Efficiency Turbine Engine program, will advance the state-of-the-art in long-range high efficiency small engine propulsion. The resulting technology can be used in the design of a small turbofan engine with half the fuel consumption relative to today’s turbojet baseline.