Piaggio Aerospace and the French company Safran Helicopter Engines announced today that they have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) which provides for a collaboration in the production of the Ardiden 3 family of aircraft engines. The agreement regulates the production of critical components for the various models of the Ardiden 3 engine family, in applications intended for both turboprop aircraft (the Ardiden 3TP variant) and helicopters.
Piaggio Aerospace has been collaborating for some time with Safran Helicopter Engines on the RTM322 and Aneto families of engines, for which it produces components of the hot section.
The Ardiden 3 is a new generation engine that ranks in the power category between 1,700 and 2,000 horsepower shafts. With two models already certified by EASA – the European agency for flight safety – the Ardiden 3 boasts an extraordinarily compact modular architecture, a power / weight ratio that is best in its class and low operating costs. The turboprop version, the Ardiden 3TP, is developed through the technical demonstrator Tech TP which is part of the European research program Clean Sky 2. The Ardiden 3TP guarantees 15% lower fuel consumption than other turboprop engines on the market .
The agreement strengthens the European team formed on the civil and military uses of Ardiden 3TP and which already sees the participation, in addition to Safran Helicopter Engines, of the German ZF Aviation Technology (ZF Luftfahrttechnik) and the Spanish ITP Aero.
“We are proud to be able to expand the collaboration with Piaggio Aerospace through the partnership on the Ardiden 3 engine,” commented Florent Chauvancy, OEM Sales Executive Vice President of Safran Helicopter Engines. “In particular, with the Ardiden 3TP we are determined to create a 100% European engine, with a high level of design maturity and highly competitive operating and maintenance costs. Our product will be conceived and manufactured by highly experienced companies, which will field state-of-the-art industrial capabilities in all the countries involved: Italy, Germany, Spain and France “. “Our business unit engines, with its highly qualified staff and a highly respected customer portfolio, represents excellence in the aerospace industry, both in the civil and military sectors”, declared Vincenzo Nicastro, Extraordinary Commissioner of Piaggio Aerospace . “Joining the Ardiden3 program and the European Ardiden 3TP team is of great strategic value for Piaggio Aerospace: I am sure that the company will be able to bring all its experience to this new engine and its future applications”.
