From the turbosupercharger to the world’s most powerful commercial jet engine, GE Aerospace’s history of powering the world’s aircraft features more than 100 years of innovation.

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the U.S. government searched for a company to develop the first airplane engine "booster" for the fledgling U.S. aviation industry. This booster, or turbosupercharger, installed on a piston engine, used the engine's exhaust gases to drive an air compressor to boost power at higher altitude.

GE accepted the challenge first, but another team also requested the chance to develop the turbosupercharger. Contracts were awarded in what was the first military aircraft engine competition in the U.S. Under wartime secrecy, both companies tested and developed various designs until the Army called for a test demonstration.

In the bitter atmosphere of Pikes Peak, 14,000 feet above sea level, GE demonstrated a 350-horsepower, turbosupercharged Liberty aircraft engine and entered the business of making airplanes fly higher, faster and with more efficiency than ever before. That mountaintop test of the first turbosupercharger landed GE's first aviation-related government contract and paved the way for GE to become a world leader in jet engines.

For more than two decades, GE produced turbosuperchargers that enabled aircraft, including many in service during World War II, to fly higher, with heavier payloads. The company's expertise in turbines and turbosuperchargers figured into the U.S. Army Air Force's decision to select GE to develop the nation's first jet engine.

Since then, the aircraft engines division of GE Aerospace has scored many firsts. Among them: America's first jet engine, the first turbojet engines to power flights at two and three times the speed of sound, and the world's first high bypass turbofan engine to enter service.

Today, GE Aerospace is a global provider of engines, systems, and services, with revenues exceeding $30 billion. As a leader in aviation technology, GE Aerospace continues to design, develop and manufacture jet engines, components and integrated systems for military, commercial and business and general aircraft as well as aero-derivative gas turbines for marine applications. In addition, GE Aerospace is the world's leading integrated engine maintenance resource.

Because principles and challenges in turbosuperchargers apply to gas turbines as well, GE was a logical choice to build America's first jet engine.

In 1941, the U.S. Army Air Corps picked GE's Lynn, Massachusetts, plant to build a jet engine based on the design of Britain's Sir Frank Whittle. Six months later, on April 18, 1942, GE engineers successfully ran the I-A engine.

In October 1942, at Muroc Dry Lake, California, two I-A engines powered the historic first flight of a Bell XP-59A Airacomet aircraft, launching the United States into the Jet Age. The thrust rating of the I-A was 1,250 pounds; the thrust rating of the GE90-115B is more than 90 times as great at 115,000 pounds.

The I-A engine incorporated a centrifugal-flow compressor, as did the increasingly more powerful engines developed by GE during the next two years, culminating in the J33 engine, which was rated at 4,000 pounds of thrust. The J33 powered the U.S. Army Air Corps' first operational jet fighter, the P-80 Shooting Star, to a world's speed record of 620 miles per hour in 1947. Before the end of that year, a GE J35 engine powered a Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak to a record breaking 650 miles per hour. The J35 was the first GE turbojet engine to incorporate an axial-flow compressor--the type of compressor used in all GE engines since then.

However, the Air Corps, concerned about disrupting supplies of turbosuperchargers, placed production of GE's jet engines with other manufacturers. GE then set about designing another. The resulting J47 put GE back in the business of building jet engines. But demand for the J47 to power almost all the new front-line military aircraft, particularly the F-86 Sabre Jet, meant the Lynn plant could not keep up. GE needed a second factory.

GE selected a federally owned plant near Cincinnati, Ohio, where Wright Aeronautical piston engines had been produced during World War II. GE formally opened the plant on February 28, 1949, with the second J47 production line, to complement the original line at Lynn. Later, the plant would be known as Evendale and would become GE Aerospace's world headquarters.

With the Korean War boosting demand, the J47 became the world's most produced gas turbine. More than 35,000 J47 engines were delivered by the end of the 1950s. That engine scored two major firsts: it was the first turbojet certified for civil use by the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Administration- and the first to use an electronically controlled afterburner to boost its thrust.

The war created a boom environment. Employment at GE's Evendale facility experienced a- ten-fold increase, from 1,200 to 12,000 people in 20 months, requiring a tripling of manufacturing space. In 1951, GE announced that the Evendale plant would be one of the world's truly great jet engine centers in peace and war. In 1954, the Evendale manufacturing complex, virtually empty just six years earlier, was designated as GE's production facility for large jet engines while its sister plant in Lynn, Massachusetts, focused on developing and producing small jet engines.

GE Aerospace’s military division is working on innovations today that will transform tomorrow’s missions. From the revolutionary Adaptive Cycle Engine (ACE), in conjunction with the Air Force Research Lab, to the T901 for the Army’s Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP), GE Aerospace’s next generation portfolio includes unprecedented speed, power, fuel efficiency and reduction in maintenance costs. These advancements will forever change the military’s approach to protecting freedom.

This ambition for building upon previous technology, knowledge and experience goes back to the Company’s first generation of engineers. GE rapidly grew its jet engines business thanks to the industrialization of the most produced combat engine, the J47, with more than 35,000 manufactured.

As the need for more power for the Century Series fighters, which would fly at more than twice the speed of sound, GE responded with one of the most important developments for the jet engine, the variable stator for its J79 turbojet engine. The movable stator vanes in the engine helped the compressor cope with the huge internal variations in airflow from takeoff to high supersonic speeds.

More than 17,000 J79s were built over 30 years, powering aircraft such as the F-104 Starfighter, F-4 Phantom II, RA-5C Vigilante, and B-58 Hustler. For the Convair 880/990 series airliner, the CJ805 derivative of the J79 engine marked GE's entry into the civil airline market.

Meanwhile, GE was busy with a new gas turbine to transform helicopter capability. The 800-horsepower T58 turboshaft engine powered a Sikorsky HSS-1F in the U.S.'s first turbine-powered helicopter flight. That engine, which first ran in the 1950s, was the precursor of Lynn's small engine product line.

The 1950s and 1960s saw further advances. The J93 was developed to power the world’s largest, highest flying, and fastest bomber, the US Air Force’s experimental XB-70 Valkyrie. Six 28,800 lb thrust turbojets propelled the 500,000 lb demonstrator to three times the speed sound at an altitude of 74,000 feet. Technologies pioneered in the J93 are used in today’s military and commercial engines.

A major success of the period was the Lynn-manufactured J85 turbojet engine. Contracted by the USAF to build a low-cost air-combat fighter, Northrop built the F-5 Freedom Fighter around the GE J85 engine. The F-5 soon became the standard air defense aircraft for more than 30 nations. The J85 powers the US Air Force T-38 Talon supersonic pilot trainer.

GE introduced the T64 free-turbine turboshaft/turboprop engine in 1964, featuring technical innovations such as corrosion resistant and high-temperature coatings that contributed to the development of very heavy lift helicopters. The T64 was used on the Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion family of helicopters that serve the US Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and several international militaries.

When the U.S. Navy needed a durable and efficient engine to power the Lockheed S-3 Viking for carrier based anti-submarine warfare, GE responded with the TF34 high bypass engine. The TF34 was also selected by the U.S. Air Force to power the A-10 Thunderbolt II close air support aircraft.

Advances in compressor, combustor and turbine knowledge in the 1960s led to the decision to propose a more compact core engine with a single-stage turbine and only two bearing areas versus three, resulting in the GE F101 engine, selected for the U.S. Air Force's B-1 bomber.

In the early 1970s, the Army turned to GE for an improved turboshaft engine to power its new generation of helicopters. The result was the legendary T700. Capitalizing on the lessons of the Vietnam War, the T700 provided the Army exceptionally reliable power built using a revolutionary modular architecture. The modular T700 was designed for field maintainability to drive down costs and improve Army helicopter readiness rates. Over the ensuing decades, multiple advanced technology upgrades were introduced for the T700. Also, the T700-derived, CT7 turboshaft and turboprop engine family was introduced for the commercial market. More than 25,000 T700/CT7 engines have been delivered. Since their introduction more than 40 years ago, the T700 and CT7 variants continue to establish new applications as one of the among popular turboshaft and turboprop engine families in aviation history.

The role of GE military engines continued to grow during the defense buildup of the 1980s. In 1984, the USAF selected GE's highly reliable F110 engine, based on the F101 design, for the F-16C/D fighter aircraft, initiating "The Great Engine War"- an intense, competition between GE and rival Pratt & Whitney. The F110 now powers the majority of USAF F-16C/Ds. The F110 also powers F-16s worldwide, having been selected by Israel, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Chile and Oman. In addition, the F110 powers Japan's single-engine F-2 fighter and the export versions of the F-15 Eagle operated by Korea, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. From the late 1980s through 2006, the US Navy operated an upgraded version of the F-14 Tomcat with the F110 engine. A derivative of the F110, the F118, powers the U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bomber and U-2S high altitude reconnaissance aircraft.

Also in the 1980s, the F404 engine for the F/A-18 Hornet entered production. The F404 is the world's most ubiquitous fighter engine, with more than 3,700 powering 10 aircraft types worldwide. These include the Boeing F/A-18 Hornet, Saab JAS 39 Gripen, Korea’s T-50, India’s Tejas Mark I and the Lockheed Martin F-117 stealth fighter prior to its retirement in 2008.

GE is positioned to be a world leader in military propulsion well into the 21st century. The F414, the turbofan engine for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet front-line strike fighter and EA 18G Growler electronic attack aircraft, produces 22,000 pounds of thrust. It is also the engine of choice for the JAS 39E Gripen Next Generation and HAL Tejas Mark II. GE Aerospace has the capability to increase F414 durability and thrust by as much as 25 percent.

GE first received funding to begin developing a competitive engine for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) in 1996 and ultimately teamed with Rolls Royce for the full-scale development contract. The team successfully completed Short Take Off, Vertical Landing (STOVL) testing on an F136 engine at the GE testing facility at Peebles, Ohio in 2008. Extensive ground testing of the F136, designed for all variants of the JSF aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, included the first use of ceramic matric composites in GE-designed components and paved the way for expanded use of these revolutionary materials in GE’s next generation commercial engines and military engines.

Due to US Government fiscal challenges and DoD budget cuts, Congress made the decision in 2011 to discontinue funding development of the F136 and the program was cancelled after about 80% completion.

Building on the strength of its design capabilities for high performance combat aircraft engines, GE successfully completed testing the world’s first adaptive, three-stream engine in 2014 through the Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT) program with the United States Air Force Research Lab.

By the next decade, the adaptive cycle (also called variable cycle) engine could revolutionize jet fighters. The variable cycle engine alternatives between a high-thrust mode for maximum power and a high efficiency mode for optimum fuel savings and greater aircraft range. In 2018, the USAF awarded to GE a $437 million contract to further advance adaptive-cycle engine technology, bolstering the company’s 11-year effort in this technology dating back to 2007.

GE’s next-generation military portfolio also includes the T901 turboshaft (downselected by the U.S. government in 2019) now under development, and also, the T408 turboshaft for heavy lift missions of the new Sikorsky CH-53 King Stallion for the U.S. Marine Corps. Capable of producing more than 7,500 shaft horsepower, the T408 combines breakthrough technologies, innovative cooling schemes and durability to deliver numerous mission-critical advantages in the world’s harshest operating environments.

The T901 is being designed as a replacement for the T700 engine powering existing Black Hawk and Apache helicopters through the U.S. Army’s Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP). Compared to the most advanced T700 engines in service, the T901 provides 25 percent better fuel economy, 35 percent lower acquisition and maintenance costs, 20 percent longer life and as much as 65 percent more power to weight.

GE Aerospace invests more than $1 billion each year in research and development, positioning the company to lead advancements in military propulsion for generations to come.