NASHVILLE — The Army’s program to develop a new engine for its Blackhawk and Apache fleets will need money in fiscal 2027 if the service wants to complete qualification testing for the engine’s operability with Blackhawks in the next 12 to 18 months, according to engine-maker General Electric Aerospace.
“We’ve got a ton of resources today, so we’re working away with the money that we’ve been given by Congress, and there’s just a ton of work that’s being accomplished at this point,” Mike Sousa, executive program manager for T901 engine at GE Aerospace told reporters Monday ahead of the AAAA conference. “We will need a little bit more money to get through the EMD [engineering, manufacturing and development] program, but it’s certainly not anywhere close to the money that we’ve already received for the program. So there is a little bit of money that is still required.”
Last month Army senior leaders told Breaking Defense they expected qualification testing to be completed for the T901 in 2028 for the Sikorsky-made Blackhawks. But the recently released Pentagon budget request does not provide any funding for the Improved Turbine Engine Program in FY27, and GE Aerospace officials said without that, the hoped-for timeline is unlikely.
In 2019 GE was awarded the contract to develop the engine through ITEP. The engine is designed to provide a 50 percent increase in horsepower and a 25 percent improved fuel efficiency rate.
The program has faced delays over the years as the Army has adjusted its priorities for its aviation fleet and reportedly came close to cancelling the program in line with the Army Transformation Initiative.
The Pentagon didn’t request any money for the program in the FY26 budget, but lawmakers pushed back, providing the service with $175 million in fiscal 2026 funding and $63 million in reconciliation money. With both discretionary and mandatory dollars, the Army and GE Aerospace have been able to make significant progress in completing qualification testing, Sousa said.
To meet full qualification, the ITEP has to undergo 1,500 hours of ground testing and “close to” 5,000 hours of testing for “full engine qualification,” according to the Army. Sousa did not disclose how many hours the engine has undergone at this point for either metric. Full qualification gets the engine and its associated aircraft ready for Milestone C, Tom Champion, executive program director for T901 at GE told reporters Monday.
Champion did not say exactly much money will be needed, and that the number is not up to GE Aerospace to decide.
“It’s really kind of a question for the government, I think, because we don’t have insight into everything that they have on their plate, relative to Sikorsky. If you start talking about Apache, what does that look like? And then their own costs as well,” Champion said.
The Army did not respond to a request for comment for this report.
Champion added that GE is in talks with the Army to potentially move up ITEP production for Blackhawks from its estimated quarter three FY29 date. He said the Army is “pursuing some different courses of action that could result in a procurement activity” that allows GE to deliver the engines and get to the initial operational capability “much, much sooner” than FY29.
“We’re a long-cycle business. We have long lead times too. So you know, our lead time from scratch — if you give us an order today, you’re talking about two, two and a half years before you get an engine, but there’s different courses of action that can accelerate that,” he said.