Rolls-Royce plc (also known as Rolls-Royce Aero Engines) is the second-largest aircraft engine maker in the world, behind General Electric's GE Aircraft Engines division.

Rolls-Royce, an automobile company founded in 1906 by Henry Royce and C.S. Rolls, produced its first aircraft engine in 1914.

For a brief history of the firm from this time to its emergence as the major UK aero-engine manufacturer after its merger with Bristol Siddeley in 1966, see Rolls-Royce.

Having been selected as the sole engine for the Lockheed L-1011 (Tristar) Rolls-Royce committed heavily to the RB211 engine. Development of the RB211 was hampered by considerable problems and on February 4, 1971 Rolls-Royce was declared bankrupt. To save the company Edward Heath's government nationalized it. The automotive division was separated from the aircraft engine division in 1973 as Rolls-Royce Motors. Rolls-Royce plc was privatized in 1987 under Margaret Thatcher. Following this return to the private sector Rolls Royce has gone from strength to strength. The 1980s saw the introduction of a policy to offer an engine on every civil aircraft type with the company now powering 17 different airliners (and their variants) compared to General Electric's 14 and Pratt & Whitney's 10.

Rolls-Royce's aerospace business makes commercial and military gas turbine engines for military, airline, and corporate aircraft customers worldwide. In the U.S., the company makes engines for regional and corporate jets, helicopters, and turboprop aircraft. Rolls-Royce also constructs and installs power generation systems and is one of the world's largest makers of marine propulsion systems. Its core gas turbine technology has created one of the broadest product ranges of aero engines in the world, with 50,000 engines in service with 500 airlines, 2,400 corporate and utility operators and more than 100 armed forces, powering both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft.

In 1990 BMW and Rolls-Royce established the BMW Rolls-Royce joint venture to produce the BR700 range of engines for regional and corporate jets. Rolls-Royce acquired the Allison Engine Company in 1995 from GM. This brought four new engine types into the Rolls-Royce civil engine portfolio on seven platforms and several light aircraft applications. Allison is now known as Rolls-Royce Corporation, part of Rolls-Royce North America,which also includes the former Cooper Rolls joint venture which became wholly owned after Rolls-Royce bought out the share owned by Cooper Cameron Corporation ,which had inherited it on being split off from Cooper Industries.This acquisition included virtually all of Cooper's remaining presence in its Mount Vernon, Ohio birthplace.

In 1996 Rolls-Royce and Airbus signed a Memorandum of Understanding specifiying the Trent 900 as the engine of choice for the then A3XX.

Rolls-Royce has established a leading position in the corporate and regional airline sector through the development of the Tay engine, the Allison acquisition and the consolidation of the BMW Rolls-Royce joint venture. In 1999 BMW Rolls-Royce was renamed Rolls-Royce Deutschland and in 2000 this group became a 100% owned subsidiary of Rolls-Royce plc.

On April 6, 2004 Boeing announced that it had selected both Rolls-Royce and General Electric to power its new 787. Rolls-Royce submitted the Trent 1000, a further development of that series. GE's offering is the GENX, a development of the GE90.

Engine range

Rolls-Royce RB211

Civil engines and applications

• AE 3007
  • ERJ 145
• BR700
  • BAE Nimrod
  • Boeing 717
  • Bombardier Global Express
  • Gulfstream G550
  • Tupolev Tu-334
• RB211
  • Boeing 747
  • Boeing 757
  • Boeing 767
• Spey
  • Gulfstream II
  • Gulfstream III
• Tay
  • Boeing 727
  • Douglas DC-9
• Trent
  • Airbus A330
  • Airbus A340
  • Airbus A380
  • Boeing 747 Developments
  • Boeing 777
  • Boeing 7E7
• V2500
  • Airbus A320 family
    • A318
    • A319
    • A320
    • A321
    • Airbus Corporate Jet
• Conway
  • Vickers VC-10
• RR/Snecma Olympus 593
  • Concorde

Military engines and applications

• Adour
  • BAE Hawk
  • SEPECAT Jaguar
• AE 1107C - Liberty
  • V-22 Osprey
• AE 2100
  • Saab 2000
  • C-130J Hercules
  • C-27 Spartan
  • P-3 Orion
• EJ200
  • Eurofighter Typhoon
• F136
  • F-35
• Gem
  • AgustaWestland Lynx
• Model 250
  • Northrop Grumman RQ-8A Fire Scout
• MTR390
  • Eurocopter Tiger
• Pegasus
  • Harrier GR7/GR9
  • AV-8B Harrier
  • Sea Harrier
• RB199
  • Panavia Tornado
• RTM322
  • AgustaWestland EH101
  • NHI NH90
  • WAH-64 Apache
• T56/501-D
  • E-2 Hawkeye
  • C-130 Hercules
• T800
  • AgustaWestland Super Lynx
• EPI TP400
  • Airbus A400M

WR-21

Marine gas turbines

• WR-21
  • Type 45 destroyer
  • Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier

Waterjets

• Kamewa Waterjets

Submarine propulsion

• PWR2 reactor
  • Astute class submarine
  • Vanguard class submarine

External links

• Rolls-Royce