Basic press release

MTU – Germany’s leading manufacturer in the engine industry

Collaboration on new propulsion systems

Munich, June 20, 2011 – In the aviation industry, three simple letters stand for top-notch engine technology: MTU. Germany's leading engine manufacturer, the country's only independent engine builder, has been providing propulsion systems to power aircraft for more than 75 years now, having become an established global player. The company engages in the development, manufacture, marketing and support of commercial and military aircraft engines and industrial gas turbines. In fiscal 2010, it had around 2.7 billion euros in sales and an approximate workforce of 7,900 people.

With its products, the company has content in all thrust and power categories and on all major engine components and subsystems, such as compressors, combustors and turbines. Jointly with other manufacturers, MTU cooperates on novel propulsion systems, its partners being the big-league players in the industry General Electric (GE), Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce. Technologically, the company commands full engine systems integration capabilities, being a leader in the major engine areas and excelling especially in low-pressure turbines and high-pressure compressors, as well as manufacturing and repair techniques.

In the military arena, the company is the German Armed Forces' major industrial partner for practically all engine types flown by them. MTU provides a full range of services, from maturing enabling technologies through developing and manufacturing engines and engine components, to providing maintenance and comprehensive customer support services. Among the company's current major military engine programs are the TP400-D6 engine to power the A400M military transport, the EJ200 for the Eurofighter/Typhoon, the RB199 for the Tornado and the MTR390 for the French-German Tiger attack-escort helicopter. The company has also stakes in four military engines built by GE - F404, F414, F110 and GE38.

Commercial engine maintenance

Figuring significantly among MTU's core competencies are the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of commercial engines and the service support it provides for industrial gas turbines. These activities are combined under the roof of MTU Maintenance, which is the world’s largest independent provider of commercial engine services. The company pursues its commercial engine repair activities at globally distributed locations.

MTU Maintenance Hannover forms the heart of the MTU Maintenance network of shops, supporting midsize and large commercial engines. Among these are the General Electric CF6-50, CF6-80C2 and GE90-110/115, the Pratt & Whitney PW2000, the IAE (International Aero Engines) V2500 and the CFM International CFM56-7.

MTU Maintenance Berlin-Brandenburg specializes in the repair and overhaul of aircraft engines in the smaller thrust and power categories as well as of industrial gas turbines. Ludwigsfelde has the only production test cell to perform development and acceptance tests on the TP400-D6 engine to power the A400M military transport. This year, the company celebrates two anniversaries: 75 years of engine construction at the traditional engine manufacturing site and 20 years of affiliation to the MTU Group.

MTU Maintenance Zhuhai is a joint venture of MTU Aero Engines and China Southern Airlines, one of the nation's largest carriers. The shop specializes in the maintenance, repair and overhaul of V2500-A5 and CFM56-3, -5B, -7B propulsion systems and celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The company has by now grown its market share in the Chinese domestic market for V2500 engine MRO to 90 percent.

MTU Maintenance Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, repairs and overhauls engines in the medium-to-upper thrust ranges and also accessories. The company specializes in providing maintenance services for CF6-50 and CFM56-3 engines.

Airfoil Services Sdn. Bhd. (ASSB) close to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is a 50-50 joint venture of MTU Aero Engines and Lufthansa Technik. The shop repairs CF6-50, CF6-80, CFM56 series, V2500 and CF34 airfoils.

MTU Aero Engines Polska located in Rzeszów in the southeast of Poland is the latest addition to the MTU Group. The company focuses on the development and production of rotor and stator airfoils for low-pressure turbines, assembly work on low-pressure turbines, and parts repair.

Further MTU subsidiaries

MTU Aero Engines North America is located in Rocky Hill close to Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford, Connecticut. It employs an engineering team of 60 employees who design and develop components for joint MTU/Pratt & Whitney engine programs.

Vericor Power Systems manufactures, markets and supports industrial gas turbines. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, the wholly-owned MTU affiliate focuses on Vericor TF and ASE series gas turbines.

Based in France's Châtellerault, Ceramic Coating Center (CCC) is a joint venture of MTU and Snecma. It engages in the ceramic coating of turbine blades.

The Munich headquarters

Munich is home to MTU Aero Engines’ corporate headquarters. At present, there are some 4,600 people working at the Munich location. The company premises are spreading over some 500,000 square meters. This is from where the group's subsidiaries and most of its research and development activities are controlled and where engine components are produced in various shops. Munich also is home to MTU’s military programs. For many decades, the final assembly and testing of new military engines, as well as their repair, has been proceeding here in Munich.

Propulsion system technology of the future

Germany's leading engine manufacturer, in close partnership with major players in the business, is developing novel propulsion systems and technologies in all thrust and power categories. MTU is involved in significant research activities at national as well as international levels. All these activities endeavor to make engines quieter, fuel-thriftier and cleaner.

MTU Aero Engines, in partnership with Bauhaus Luftfahrt, unveiled an ambitious program designed to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of aircraft engines. Its Clean Air Engine (Claire) technology project is to lower CO2 emissions by as much as 30 percent by 2035. MTU's three-stage program bases on the geared turbofan (GTF): Using GTF technology, which by then will have reached production maturity, plans are to lower CO2 emissions by about 15 percent in the first stage by 2012 and cut the perceived noise levels in half. Key components of this propulsion concept are a high-speed low-pressure turbine, which is made by MTU, and a high-pressure compressor built in partnership between MTU and Pratt & Whitney.

In a second step, the CO2 emission reduction will be raised to at least 20 percent by 2025. The key to success is even more efficient thrust generation – for instance by the further development of the GTF or through the use of a shrouded, counter-rotating prop fan, the concept for which had been developed by MTU already back in the 1980s. By 2035, MTU ultimately expects to achieve the full target of a 30 percent reduction when in the third and last stage, utilization of the energy in the core engine will be further optimized, for example through the use of a heat exchanger.

The concept is catching on with airframers: Airbus is offering the geared turbofan engine for its re-engined A320neo; Bombardier has selected it as the exclusive engine to power its new CSeries; Mitsubishi will equip its MRJ with this new type of propulsion system, and Irkut has chosen it for its MS-21.

Your contacts:

Eckhard Zanger
Tel.: + 49 (0)89 14 89-91 13
Mobile: + 49 (0) 176-1000 6158

Odilo Mühling
Tel.: +49 (0)89 14 89-26 98
Mobile: + 49 (0) 176-1001 7859