Exclusive: Rolls-Royce goes full power for Army's MV-75

Colin Demarest

A large, black-in-color tiltrotor aircraft is seen inside a bright room. A large American flag hangs on the wall. — The MV-75 Cheyenne, at an airport in Fort Worth, Texas. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Rolls-Royce brought its engine for the MV-75 Cheyenne to full power using a new digital controller known as a FADEC, executives told Axios.

Why it matters: It's another milestone for this closely watched, multibillion-dollar tiltrotor project, which is expected to replace many of the U.S. Army's Black Hawk helicopters.

What they're saying: "There are so many subsystems that go into a new aircraft design, and certification by the authorities," Scott Ames, a Rolls-Royce senior vice president, told Axios.

"All of those have to line up and come together," he said. "The first time this configuration MV-75 lifts off the ground, you have to have checked all those boxes along the way."

State of play: Each Cheyenne, built by Bell Textron, will be outfitted with two Rolls-Royce AE 1107 engines. (A different version can be found aboard the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey.)

Engine testing kicked off in December in Indiana.
The 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, is expected to be the first to receive the tiltrotor.

Zoom in: The FADEC used represents a "brand-new design" with "a lot of cyber-resilience features," according to Ames.

Test results, he said, are shared "with Bell and the Army, to demonstrate that the AE 1107 meets all the requirements they're looking for."

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Exclusive: Rolls-Royce goes full power for Army's MV-75

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