Quote:
The consortium has previously outlined a target of mid-2012 to also receive military certification for the engine
Could someone please explain why the military need a separate certificate for the engine? Why not accept the civilian certificate and save a few million? Or at least just test the bit that not covered by the civy one?
I expect it is due to the military role requiring different requirements to that of the civil role. For example, the engine may use a different control law whilst in the AAR role or at low level than it does during in normal civil type ops???
They will clearly gather the clearance data for the civil role earlier in the programme. Since it is highly likely that Airbus will try to target the civil market, it seems logical to apply for that certification ASAP and then the military certification afterwards (which would be the same package of data plus the extra mil delta).
Otherwise they will have to retrospectively apply for a civil clearance by deconstructing the mil package and deleting the mil elements, which would probably take more time.
Also, it is no doubt good press to tell the world that the engine already meets the stringent civil cert requirements, which will be confidence boosting for their customer (and future customers).
FTEP