GE Aviation and StandardAero announced on Feb. 1 the opening of the new $50 million aircraft engine testing, research and development center in Winnipeg.
The new center will perform icing certification testing on GE's jet engines, as well as develop advanced testing methodologies and equipment for GE Aviation's commercial and military aircraft engines.
The 122,500 square foot facility, located at the James A. Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg, Manitoba, is a partnership between GE and StandardAero. Under the 10-year contractual agreement, GE designed and built the new facility and StandardAero will maintain and operate the certification test center which was designed to test gas turbine engines up to 150 inches in diameter and up to 150,000 lbs of thrust, as well as capabilities to accommodate high performance military engines.
The center will initially employ 10 StandardAero employees, with the potential to grow to 50 employees over the next five years.
The facility utilizes a state-of-the-art noise reduction system with 50-foot high noise attenuation walls, 16-foot diameter augmentor tube, and 51 foot high exhaust stack. In addition, the facility incorporates a translating wind tunnel to enable future expansion of the facility for year-round testing in other areas, such as performance and endurance testing, bird ingestion, ice crystal and mixed phase testing.
