As EBACE starts this week, Rolls-Royce announced its Pearl 10X is sailing through its tests. The engine OEM notes “is advancing at pace and has successfully accumulated more than 1,500 testing hours, both on the Advance 2 demonstrator and the Pearl 10X engine configuration. The team is now preparing for the start of the flight test campaign on Rolls-Royce’s dedicated Boeing 747 flying testbed in Tucson, Arizona, USA, which will start later this year.”
The Pearl 10X is the first Rolls-Royce engine fitted to a Dassault business jet. Dassault favored other OEMs like SAFRAN, but the SAFRAN stumbled severely on the 5X. This was followed by another fumble on the Citation Hemisphere. Pratt & Whitney Canada won the deal to power the 6X. The Pearl 10X is the most powerful version of the Pearl variants.  It offers over 18,000 pounds of thrust while delivering 5% less fuel burn compared to equivalent earlier engines. The Pearl 10X also offers an improved thrust-to-weight ratio but comes with state-of-the-art noise and emissions performance.
Rolls-Royce’s Pearl engines have proven successful in the business jet market. The Pearl 15 is found on Bombardier’s Global 5500 and 6500. The Pearl 700 is on the Gulfstream G700 and G800. Interestingly, the Pearl 700 delivers 8% more thrust but is 5% more fuel efficient than the Rolls-Royce BR725 engine on Gulfstream’s G650/650ER.
While Rolls-Royce is typically known for its big Trent engines, its business jet engines are seeing market success. Topping that off is the win powering the B-52J. The F130 engine to be used on the B-52J is derived from the Rolls-Royce BR range which another family of smaller engines.
