Turbomeca (Safran) unveils a brand-new engine: the Arrano

Turbomeca (Safran) is celebrating the introduction of its latest turboshaft engine at Heli-Expo. Christened “Arrano”, the new 1,100 shp engine is designed to power four-to-six ton helicopters and fits between the Arriel and Ardiden performance ranges. In today’s market, The Arrano is unmatched in its category.

The Arrano, the commercial name of the TM800, benefits from technological developments of Turbomeca’s R&T strategy.

It incorporates the results of several upstream research projects, including products and processes validated by the Tech 800 demonstrator (which recently ran on a test bench for the first time). It also takes advantage of operational feedback from across the Turbomeca engine performance range.

“Traditionally” explains Olivier Andriès, Turbomeca Chairman & CEO, “our engine names have links to the Pyrenees mountains, near where Turbomeca has its headquarters. ‘Arrano’, or ‘eagle’ in the Basque language, is very much a native of the Pyrenees. It is also the fruit of our determination to design ever-more competitive engines with ever-higher performance, together with value-added services. “Innovation is one of four key values around which our strategy is applied”, he added.   A major benefit of this new engine is a significant reduction in specific fuel consumption, when compared with other engines in-service today. The Arrano will offer a 10 to 15% lower fuel consumption, contributing to improved performance (range, payload) and reduced environmental footprint. Cost of ownership will be reduced through Turbomeca’s optimized maintenance concept designed to significantly decrease the need for on-site servicing.

In July 2012, Eurocopter announced that its X4, new-generation, 5-to-6-tonne helicopter will be the first platform to be powered by the Arrano engine. Its development and certification plans are in line with the entry-into-service of the initial configuration of the X4. The first test run of the Arrano is scheduled in 2014.