GE Aviation To Recover Strategic Alloys From US Decommissioned Engines

GE Aviation has made a mutually beneficial arrangement with the US government to accommodate the environmentally controlled teardown of hardware and recovery of strategic alloys in exchange for credits on future engine/parts purchases.

The Military Engine Reclamation Program is an incentivized process for GE’s US Navy and Air Force customers to garner financial value from retiring GE products in their fleets, including F404, F414, TF39, TF34, T700 F110, F101 and F118 engine parts.

“The Engine Reclamation Program initiated by Naval Air Systems Command and GE Aviation is an exchange-based cost reduction initiative that required virtually no upfront investment, and delivered a near immediate payoff”, said Antonio Miguelez, Director of Propulsion and Power Engineering at Naval Air Systems Command in a statement Monday.

Beyond the benefit of life cycle cost savings for Naval Aviation Enterprise Programs, other benefits include reduction to material sourcing risk of strategic metals, much lower workload demand than conventional material disposal processes, and the environmental advantages that come from recycling. 

Military customers receive an exchange-allowance credit in return for the environmentally controlled teardown of graded alloy material including platinum, rhenium and gold that is extracted from their decommissioned hardware. These credits are then used toward the purchase of GE engines, modules or parts.