Sat, Jun 03, 2006
Located At Stennis Space Center
Rolls-Royce broke ground Friday on
its new outdoor jet engine testing facility at the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration's John C. Stennis Space Center
in Mississippi. The new facility will be used to test development
and prototype jet engines for performance, noise, validation of
safety systems and other factors.
Initially, it will test the company's latest Trent engines, the
Trent 1000 (below) and Trent 900, being developed for the Boeing
787 Dreamliner and Airbus A380 respectively. Work is expected to
begin at the site in the second half of 2007.
The Stennis test center is the first such facility of its kind
for Rolls-Royce outside the UK, and the first built from the
ground-up in the US. Last year, the company announced its intent to
relocate this testing capability from the UK to the US. There are
only three such testing facilities in the world.
"Today's groundbreaking underscores our continuing commitment to
globalization and to the US," said Mike Ryan, Executive Vice
President for Government Business, Rolls-Royce North America.
"Rolls-Royce has been in the US for 100 years and we plan to be
here for at least 100 more. I can think of no better way to usher
in our second century than to conduct this important work on these
shores."
In all, Rolls-Royce will spend $42 million on construction and
facility upgrades, as well as utilize existing infrastructure at
Stennis.
Last year, Rolls-Royce also expanded and upgraded its Naval
Marine foundry in Pascagoula, MS.
"We're especially pleased to be back in Mississippi," added
Ryan. "We've enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the people of
Mississippi for several years now and this new facility only
enhances our partnership," added Ryan.
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