Turbo-Union RB199

The Turbo-Union RB199 is a three-shaft turbofan with afterburner, designed and built in the early 1970s by Turbo-Union, a joint venture between Rolls-Royce, MTU and Aeritalia. It came from a 1969 requirement to power the Panavia multirole combat aircraft that became the Tornado, which was its only production application. Rolls-Royce settled the three-shaft layout, built on Bristol Siddeley design work after Rolls-Royce took over that company in 1966, and the modules were shared by expertise: Rolls-Royce designed the fan, combustor, high pressure turbine and reheat, Fiat the low pressure turbine and final nozzle, and MTU the intermediate and high pressure compressors, the intermediate turbine and the thrust reverser. The engine first ran on 27 September 1971 at Patchway and was flight tested in a nacelle under an Avro Vulcan. Variants run from the Mk 101 to the Mk 105, and the RB199-122 powered the first two Eurofighter Typhoon prototypes.