Turbomeca: Increasing its Local Footprint

Defence Turkey: Could you please assess us about Turbomeca and its place within the aerospace market.

As part of the global Safran group we build, market and support the widest range of gas turbines for the helicopter market. Our headquarters are in south-west France, and we have 6,500 staff spread around the world, serving 2,500 customers in 155 countries. Collectively, these customers fly 18,200 of our engines. Our latest sales figures are €1,126, representing a 32% global market share, which makes us the market leader. Last year we built nearly 1,000 engines and repaired almost 1,500 more. 

Our goal is to become the world’s preferred helicopter engine manufacturer and, after nearly 75 years of meeting our customers’ needs, we have embarked on a journey to achieve that aim.

Our product range extends from the 450-750 shp Arrius to the 2,000-2,600 shp RTM322 engines. The Arrius 2R has just been selected to power Bell’s new Jet Ranger replacement, the B505 Jet Ranger X, and the RTM322 (Apache, NH90, AW101) is now a 100 per cent Turbomeca product. 

Defence Turkey: Does Turbomeca just produce small engines for light aircraft?

First of all, helicopter engines are our core business – it’s all we do. We have the widest range on the market and they address both civil and military applications across a wide weight-band. We have decades of experience in developing engines in partnership with both airframe and other engine manufacturers.

Back in 1965, we entered a joint venture with Rolls Royce to create the RTM322, now in service with the three-engine AW101, the Longbow Apache and NH90 helicopters. We worked with MTU and Rolls-Royce to create the MTR390 (for five to seven tons helicopters), and we are currently developing the Ardiden 3C/WZ16 (for six to eight tons helicopters) a 50/50 partnership with Dongan, part of China’s AVIC group. So we already cater for heavier helicopters and building more powerful engines is part of our strategic plan (see below).

We also have huge experience of working with helicopter OEM; Airbus Helicopters is our main customer but our engines also power today AgustaWestland, AVIC, KHI, Russian Helicopters, Hindustan Aeronautics and Sikorsky aircraft. The most recent evidence of our success is our selection as the engine partner in Bell’s new Jet Ranger X. If this helicopter does half as well as its famous predecessor, we can look forward to a long relationship!

We also believe strongly in delivering a proximity service to our customers, through establishing local teams that can provide them with prompt support.

Defence Turkey:  What is your current footprint in Turkey?

Over 20 years of cooperation with Turkey we have delivered more than 150 today operational engines and built an eighteen per cent market share in the country. The largest share of our contribution is represented by 100 Makila 1A1 turbines, now fitted to EC532 Cougar helicopters serving with both Turkish air and land forces. We have established a repair centre for the army’s share at Eskişehir, within the Tusas Engine Industries (TEI) government repair centre. It can cater for up to Level 4 repairs to the Makila engine.

We can point to a high level of technology transfer between Turbomeca and TEI. This reflects a high level of competence and increases its level of autonomy. We are also engaged on the domestic Light Single Helicopter project, a partnership between TAI and Istanbul University, with the goal of designing and building a helicopter demonstrator. 

Our contribution to that programme is a new variant of our Arrius engine, which we supply together with the necessary integration and optimisation expertise. To that end, Turbomeca engineers regularly travel to Turkey but we have also welcomed six interns from TAI to our Tarnos site in France, for specific training on the Arrius.

As well as our TURAF and TURLF colleagues, we are proud to count Turkish airports authority DHMI, the Forestry Ministry (Arriel engines) and THK-GOKCEN (EMS missions, Arrius engines) as government customers, along with notably  Garanti Bank and OMSAN Havacılık A.Ş storage in the private sector.

Defence Turkey: What levels of support do you provide to your customers?

We deeply and continuously work with helicopter manufacturers and end-users – the operators. We believe passionately in the Power of Proximity and, to be closer to our customers, have established nearly 50 maintenance repair and overhaul centres around the world. Now, some 20 per cent of our workforce is based outside France. 

We always strive to improve our performance. Recent achievements include TBO extensions of up to 20 per cent, and an engine pool offering as much as 100 per cent availability. We are currently introducing BOOST, a range of advanced engine and maintenance tools designed to keep customer aircraft where they belong – in the air. And we are committing to the future, with the goal of tripling the number of worldwide maintenance centres within the next ten years. That’s 150 centres by 2024.

Defence Turkey: What are your future development plans?

A: If Turbomeca aspires to being the world’s preferred helicopter engine manufacturer, we must have a strategy to take us along the right road. We intend to win and retain more customers, develop new engines and engine variants – including high-power turbines for heavy helicopters.  Turbomeca invests fifteen per cent of its sales income into R&D and, at any time, has ten new engines or engine variants in development. Within the next 18 months, six of these new variants will see certification: the Arriel 2E and 2N (in the Airbus Helicopters EC145 T2 and AS365 N3e/MBE respectively); the Ardiden 3C (Avicopter AS352); Ardiden 3G (Kamov Ka-62); Arrius 2B2 Plus (Airbus Helicopters EC135 T3); and the Arrius 2R (Bell 505).

We want to raise our profile in emerging markets, where we are already well-represented including solid presences in each of the so-called BRIC nations.

Finally, we want to strengthen and develop customer loyalty through programmes such as Service by the Hour (SBH™), together with other innovative services.

BOOST (Bank Of Online Services and Technologies) is one such service. From 2015 customers will benefit from access to three major features: an online engine log-book, a set of interactive technical publications and the ability to check remotely the configuration of any engine – wherever in the world they happen to be. This will clearly make airworthiness management a much easier and safer process.

Defence Turkey: How are you doing so far? 

As mentioned, we are very proud to be working with Bell for the first time in our history. In addition to that partnership, we are competing on the new India’s Light Utility Helicopter programme with the Ariden 1. 160 Ardiden 1 are already in service on the multi-role Dhruv. And we have introduced the Arrano, a new-generation 1,100 shp engine sitting between the Arriel and Ardiden 1, in terms of performance, and designed to power four-to-six ton helicopters. It will offer a ten to fifteen per cent lower fuel consumption over current engines, contributing to improved range and payload, and a reduced environmental footprint.

The first platform to be powered by the Arrano will be Airbus Helicopters’ new-generation X4. The first test-bench run of the new engine took place in February and its performance potential was validated. 

Defence Turkey: Finally, how do you plan to strengthen your position in Turkey?

Your aeronautical industry is very dynamic and TAI has ambitions to develop several new helicopters, including a twin engine light utility machine. Turbomeca not only has engine solutions to power this type of rotorcraft, but also has huge experience in the field of worldwide industrial cooperation. We are ready to enlarge our cooperation with TEI, including delegating up to design.