Pratt & Whitney is advancing the development of XA103. Credit: RTX.

RTX said that its subsidiary Pratt & Whitney is leveraging digital data packages to advance the development of its XA103 engine for the US Air Force’s Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) programme.

According to RTX, Pratt & Whitney is enhancing development speed, cutting costs, and boosting design efficiency by establishing stringent digital requirements for both its supply base and internal teams.

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This is in addition to providing advanced digital design models to enhance sharing of data internally and with suppliers.

The digital packages facilitate rapid design iterations, streamline integration with supplier systems, enhance resource forecasting for manufacturing, and expedite digital model testing and validation.

Pratt & Whitney military engines business president Jill Albertelli said: “We are paving the way with digital on NGAP, so much so that the rate at which we are delivering XA103 technical data packages has doubled. Model-based design ties all the puzzle pieces together, fostering constant collaboration, and we are applying these learnings across our engine portfolio.”

Pratt & Whitney has committed more than $30m in 2025, to advance its model-based environment. This is above the investments from RTX and government contracts.

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The investment aims to improve propulsion design accuracy, including that of the XA103 engine.

The NGAP team at Pratt & Whitney is preparing for the Assembly Readiness Review, a key milestone that will confirm the timeline for building and testing the prototype.

The company has already completed both preliminary and detailed design reviews for the XA103 engine and is now procuring hardware for its prototype ground demonstrator.

Testing of the XA103 engine is anticipated in the late 2020s.

Recently, Pratt & Whitney announced that it is developing a new family of engines with thrust scalability from 500 to 1,800 pounds.

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