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Trent 7000 Is Rolls-Royce’s New Engine Built Exclusively for the Next Airbus A330neo

If you think building a car’s engine is a delicate matter, one that requires careful planning and a lot of attention, how about putting together a turbofan engine for a commercial airplane?
Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engine 2 photos
Photo: Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 turbofan engine in the making
The implications there are immense, and there is absolutely zero tolerance for mistakes or even the slightest imprecisions. That’s exactly why you don’t see aircraft engines being manufactured just about anywhere.

Rolls-Royce is one of the oldest names in the branch, with its history running back as far as 1906. Over the years, its engines powered all sorts of aircraft, but the British company’s field of activity goes far beyond its expertise in aerospace technology, where it is the second-largest maker of aircraft engines.

This latest engine, the Trent 7000, was first introduced in 2014 at the Farnborough Airshow and will use a mix of elements from other engines that are either in use or under development as well. It is the seventh iteration of the Trent family of turbofans and will supposedly consume less fuel while also making less noise.

The Trent 7000 will offer a thrust range of 68,000-72,000 lbf (or 300-320 kN), which are two numbers we honestly have no idea what to think of, but they sure do sound impressive. The new engine will be exclusively powering the Airbus A330 replacement that will go by the name A330neo.

It looks absolutely massive in this only photo available of it that shows two technicians working on the 112-inch diameter engine at Rolls-Royce’s plant. The new Trent 7000 comes with a 20-blade fan and is expected to get its certification in 2017.

The Airbus A330neo should get its maiden flight in the first half of 2016 while its commercial debut should come in the latter stages of 2017. Several modifications to its wingspan, its engine pylons and the introduction of winglets (inspired by the Airbus A350) will make the A330neo the most cost-efficient medium-range wide-body aircraft in the market.

For now, though, it’s this picture of the impressively sterile environment where the engine is being built that grabbed our attention. We could eat off that floor, even though we certainly wouldn’t be allowed to.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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