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Rolls-Royce (London, UK) announced on May 28 the launch of a new engine family for business aviation, with the introduction of the Pearl. The engine will be used for Bombardier’s latest business jets, the Global 5500 aircraft and the Global 6500 aircraft. The Pearl 15 is the first of the planned Pearl engine family for business aviation and marks the sixth new civil aerospace engine introduced by Rolls-Royce in the past 10 years.

The Pearl engine combines technologies derived from Rolls-Royce’s Advance2 technology demonstrator programmes with proven features from the Rolls-Royce BR700 business aviation engine family. The engine employs composite materials for the engine’s bypass duct, the nacelle and the brand-new hybrid light-weight drive shaft. The composite drive shaft is a key enabler for the new high-speed core engine and has been developed in cooperation with Rolls-Royce’s global University Technology Network (Dresden, Germany and Bristol, UK).

The new engine, which was developed at Rolls-Royce’s Centre of Excellence for Business Aviation engines in Dahlewitz, Germany, received EASA certification on Feb. 28. The engine is currently undergoing flight tests at Bombardier’s Flight Test Centre in Wichita, KS, US and has a planned entry into service at the end of 2019.