Turbo-Union RB199

The Turbo Union RB199 is an aircraft jet engine designed and built jointly by Rolls-Royce, MTU and FiatAvio (now Avio). It is produced in three versions,

RB199-103
Powering Tornado IDS strike versions, with a thrust rating of 40.5 kN (dry) 71.2 kN (reheat)

RB199-34R-Mk104
Powering Tornado F3 Air Defence Variant, with a thrust rating of 40.5 kN (dry) 73 kN (reheat)

RB199-Mk105
Powering Tornado ECR versions and applicable to IDS, with a thrust rating of 42.5 kN (dry) 74.3 kN (reheat)

The versatile RB199 meets a wide range of operational requirements. Its compact design gives high thrust-to-weight and thrust-to-volume ratios while maintaining good handling characteristics and low fuel consumption. The RB199 has amassed over 5 million flight hours since entering service with the RAF, Luftwaffe, German Navy, Royal Saudi Air Force and Italian Air Force

The RB199 was flight tested on the Avro Vulcan, the same aircraft that was used for the flight testing of Concorde’s Olympus 593. A specially built nacelle was designed that was fully representative of the Tornado fuselage. This nacelle was attached below the Vulcan. The aircraft first flew in this configuration in 1972.

The RB199-122, a derivative of the Mk104, powered the first prototypes of the Eurofighter Typhoon, DA1 and DA2 flew with modified RB199's until initial models of the Eurojet EJ200 were available for flight-testing.

Turbo-Union RB199

Turbo-Union RB199

See Also