Rolls-Royce Wins USAF’s T-56 Aircraft Engines Upgrade Contract

The Pentagon has awarded Rolls-Royce a contract worth $67 million to provide Series 3.5 upgrade to the T-56 turboprop engines used in C-130 Hercules military transport planes.

“Rolls-Royce has been awarded a maximum $67 million requirements contract for supplies related to the upgrade of the T-56 engine from series 3.0 to series 3.5,” the US Department of Defense said in a statement Friday.

The company is introducing the Series 3.5 into the US Air Force’s fleet of C-130 transport planes. The $36 million contract was awarded to Rolls-Royce 2015.

“The Series 3.5 upgrade, allows T56 engines to operate at greatly reduced temperatures, extending parts life and improving reliability by 22%. The upgrades also provide improved ‘hot and high’ performance. The Series 3.5 package can be installed on T56 engines on either C-130 or P-3 legacy aircraft,” the company said in October 2015.