AFA 2025: Pratt & Whitney successfully tests commercial engine for CCA applications

An artistic image of notional Collaborative Combat Aircraft. Pratt & Whitney is modifying its PW500 turbofan engines to meet CCA propulsion requirements. (Pratt & Whitney)

Pratt & Whitney, an RTX business, has completed initial testing on its family of small turbofan engines designed for Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs), according to a company statement on 24 September.

The testing confirmed that Pratt & Whitney can “increase the thrust on these existing engines for use on CCA platforms”, the statement said.

The trials involve the PW500 family of engines, an RTX spokesperson confirmed to Janes, noting that these engines are not related to the new family of turbofans for CCAs and munitions the company announced on 22 September.

Originally designed for commercial aircraft applications, “Pratt & Whitney has unlocked additional capability from the engine to benefit CCA applications, which favour embedded engines that offer maximum manoeuvrability and range”, the statement said.

“We're seeing strong demand from both the services and international customers for CCAs and we have been able to provide solutions that we're looking to field faster,” Jill Albertelli, president of Pratt & Whitney's Military Engines business, told journalists during a media briefing on 15 September, ahead of the Air & Space Forces Association's (AFA's) Air, Space & Cyber Conference 2025 held in National Harbor, Maryland, from 22 to 24 September.

“One way for us to do that is to provide some commercial off-the-shelf propulsion solutions or take them and have a very close derivative,” she said. “That's an offering we can provide to customers right away,” she added.

“Through our civil aviation business, we're able to provide a range of thrust classes to satisfy some of those CCA requirements,” Albertelli said.