GE Aviation and Safran joint-venture company Nexcelle plans to deliver initial nacelle shipsets for the Bombardier Global 7000 and Comac C919 flight-test aircraft this month, president Michel Abella told AIN. The company’s integrated propulsion system programs include the GE Aviation Passport engine that will power the Global 7000 business jet and the CFM International LEAP-1C for the C919 airliner.

With these upcoming parallel landmark deliveries, Abella said seven-year-old Nexcelle has “come of age” and is delivering on its promise of bringing to market a new generation of integrated propulsion systems that offer “enhanced operational efficiency and improved ease of maintenance.”

Nexcelle’s nacelle components are produced by GE Aviation’s Middle River Aircraft Systems (MRAS) segment in Baltimore, Maryland and the Safran group’s Le Havre, France-based Aircelle division. The shipset for the C919 includes an inlet with anti-ice system, fan cowl, O-Duct, inner fixed structure (IFS), electrical thrust reverser actuation system (ETRAS), exhaust and engine mounts. For the Global 7000, it consists of the inlet, fan cowl and thrust reverser with its associated hydraulic actuation system.

The LEAP-1C nacelle, which Nexcelle bills as “the world’s first truly integrated propulsion system,” features an electrically-operated O-Duct thrust reverser, “advanced” inlet configuration and extensive use of composites and acoustic “treatment.”

Nexcelle’s integrated system for the GE Passport engine features a one-piece extended aluminum inlet-lip outer barrel that reduces aerodynamic drag; an anti-ice system that uses a directed-flow nozzle concept; a single-piece extended composite inner barrel incorporating acoustic protection; a simplified clamshell composite fan cowl that is lighter and easier to maintain; and a target-type thrust reverser with a fixed nozzle to provide lower weight and reverse-thrust efficiency.

Nexcelle–which has a presence here this week at Paris Le Bourget in both the GE and Safran exhibits (Chalet 142 and Hall 2a A252, respectively)–plans to develop, produce and support integrated propulsion systems for jet engine applications on single-aisle airliners and business aircraft. The cooperative is patterned after the GE Aviation/Safran-Snecma CFM International joint venture, which has delivered more than 20,000 CFM56 engines to date.