The Italian aircraft and engine-parts manufacturer Piaggio Aerospace and the French company Safran Helicopter Engines have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to cooperate on the production of the Ardiden 3 aero engine family. The agreement covers the manufacture of critical parts for the variants of the Ardiden 3 family, both for turbopropulsor (Ardiden 3TP) and helicopter applications.
Piaggio Aerospace and Safran Helicopter Engines already collaborate on the RTM322 and Aneto engine families for production of hot section parts of the engines.
The Ardiden 3 is a new-generation core engine in the 1,700 to 2,000 shaft horsepower range. With two EASA-certified models, the Ardiden 3 features a remarkably compact modular architecture, a best-in-class power-to-weight ratio, and a low cost-of-ownership.
The turbopropulsor version, Ardiden 3TP, is developed through the Tech TP technological demonstrator of Clean Sky 2 research and innovation program. The Ardiden 3TP offers 15% lower fuel consumption over current turboprops engines.
The agreement strengthens the European team built around the Ardiden 3TP for general, regional, and military turboprop applications, which already includes Safran Helicopter Engines, ZF Aviation Technology (ZF Luftfahrttechnik – Germany) and ITP Aero (Spain).