founded 1917 1 headquarters evendale ohio united states 2 key people david l. joyce president & ceo products aircraft engines avionics revenue us 24.7 billion 2015 3 operating income us 22.129 billion 2005 4 net income us 16.353 billion 2005 4 number of employees 26 800 2007 5 parent general electric subsidiaries ge aviation systems 6 walter engines 7 ge honda 50 % cfm international 50 % engine alliance 50 % aviage systems 50 % dowty propellers 100 % avio aero spa 100 % cfm materials 50 % website www.geaviation.com ge aviation a subsidiary of general electric is headquartered in evendale ohio outside cincinnati . ge aviation is among the top aircraft engine suppliers and offers engines for the majority of commercial aircraft . ge aviation is part of the general electric conglomerate which is one of the world s largest corporations . the division operated under the name of general electric aircraft engines geae until september 2005 . ge aviation s main competitors in the engine market are rolls royce and pratt & whitney . ge operates two joint ventures with snecma of france cfm international and cfm materials . contents 1 history 1.1 early efforts 1.2 military and civilian expansion 1.3 commercial aviation powerplants 1.4 ge aviation today 2 products 2.1 turbojets 2.2 light and low bypass turbofans 2.3 high bypass turbofans 2.4 turboprops propfans 2.5 turboshafts 2.6 vehicle propulsion 2.7 industrial aero derivative and marine propulsion 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit early efforts edit general electric had a long history in steam turbine work dating back to the 1900s . in 1903 they hired sanford alexander moss who in time started the development of turbosuperchargers at ge . this led to a series of record breaking flights over the next ten years . at first the role of high altitude flight was limited but in the years immediately prior to wwii they became standard equipment on practically all military aircraft . ge was a world leader in this technology ; most other firms concentrated on the mechanically simpler supercharger driven by the engine itself while ge had spent considerable effort developing the exhaust driven turbo system that offered higher performance . this work made them the natural industrial partner to develop jet engines when frank whittle s w. 1 engine was demonstrated to hap arnold in 1941 . 8 a production license was arranged in september and several of the existing w. 1 test engines shipped to the us for study where they were converted to us manufacture as the i a. ge quickly started production of improved versions ; the i 16 was produced in limited numbers starting in 1942 and the much more powerful i 40 followed in 1944 which went on to power the first us combat capable jet fighters the p 80 shooting star . early jet engine work took place at ge s syracuse ny steam turbine and lynn ma supercharger plants but soon concentrated at the lynn plants . 9 on 31 july 1945 the lynn plant became the aircraft gas turbine division . ge was repeatedly unable to deliver enough engines for army and navy demand and production of the i 40 now known as the j33 was also handed to allison engines in 1944 . after the war ended the army canceled its orders for ge built j33s and turned the entire production over to allison 10 and the syracuse plant closed . military and civilian expansion edit the j47 had a production run of over 30 000 these changes in fortune led to debate within the company about carrying on in the aircraft engine market . however the engineers at lynn pressed ahead with development of a new engine the tg 180 which was designated j35 by the us military . 11 development funds were allotted in 1946 for a more powerful version of the same design the tg 190 . this engine finally emerged as the famed general electric j47 which saw great demand for several military aircraft ; a second manufacturing facility near cincinnati was opened . j47 production ran to 30 000 engines by the time the lines closed down in 1956 . further development of the j47 by patrick clarke in 1957 led to the j73 and from there into the much more powerful j79 . the j79 was ge s second hit leading to a production run of 17 000 in several different countries . the ge and lockheed team that developed the j79 and the f 104 mach 2 fighter aircraft received the 1958 collier trophy for outstanding technical achievement in aviation . other successes followed including the t58 and t64 turboshaft engines j85 and f404 turbojets . the tf39 was the first high bypass turbofan engine to enter production . 12 entered into the c 5 galaxy contest in 1964 against similar designs from curtiss wright and pratt & whitney ge s entry was selected as the winner during the final down select in 1965 . this led to a civilian model the cf6 13 which was offered for the lockheed l 1011 and mcdonnell douglas dc 10 projects . although lockheed later changed their engine to the rolls royce rb211 the dc 10 continued with the cf6 and this success led to widespread sales on many large aircraft including the boeing 747 . another military to civilian success followed when ge was selected to supply engines for the s 3 viking and fairchild republic a 10 thunderbolt ii developing a small high bypass engine using technologies from the tf39 . the resulting tf34 was adapted to become the cf34 whose wide variety of models powers many of the regional jets flying today . 14 in the early 1970s ge was also selected to develop a modern turboshaft engine for helicopter use the t700 . it has been further developed as the ct7 turboprop engine for regional transports . commercial aviation powerplants edit in 1974 ge entered into an agreement with snecma of france forming cfm international to jointly produce a new mid sized turbofan which emerged as the cfm56 . a 50 50 joint partnership was formed 15 with a new plant in evendale oh to produce the design . at first sales were very difficult to come by and the project was due to be cancelled . only two weeks before this was to happen in march 1979 several companies selected the cfm56 to re engine their existing douglas dc 8 fleets . 16 by july 2010 cfm international had delivered their 21 000th engine of the cfm56 family with an ongoing production rate of 1250 per year against a four year production backlog . 17 the success of the cfm led ge to join in several similar partnerships including garrett airesearch for the cfe cfe738 pratt & whitney on the engine alliance gp7000 and more recently honda for the ge honda aero engines small turbofan project . ge also continued development of their own lines introducing new civilian models like the ge90 and military designs like the general electric f110 . ge aviation today edit general electric used its 747 100 testbed in the 1990s for the ge90 which powers the boeing 777 300er 777 200lr and 777f . then geae and competitor rolls royce were selected by boeing to power its new 787 . ge aviation s offering is the genx a development of the ge90 . ge aviation also has a two year exclusivity on the boeing 747 8 . the lynn facility continues to assemble jet engines for the united states department of defense subsidiary services and commercial operators . engines assembled at this plant include the f404 f414 t700 and cfe738 . the plant at lynn also produces the 3 and 8 variants of the cf34 regional jet engine the ct7 commercial turboprop power plant and commercial versions of the t700 turboshaft which are also called the ct7 . the evendale plant conducts final assembly for the cfm international s cfm56 cf6 as well as lm6000 and lm2500 power plants . the durham north carolina facility conducts final assembly for the ge90 and cf34 power plants . crucial parts for these engines are crafted in secondary ge aviation facilities such as those in bromont quebec ; hooksett new hampshire ; wilmington north carolina ; madisonville kentucky and rutland vermont ; where the engine blades and vanes are manufactured . smiths group and general electric announced on january 15 2007 that the former was divesting smiths aerospace to the latter for gbp 2.4 billion us 4.8 billion . 18 ge aviation closed the transaction on may 4 2007 . 6 smiths aerospace which was an important supplier became an operating subsidiary of ge aviation known as ge aviation systems . this acquisition will reportedly give the combined unit the clout to resist pricing pressures from its two largest customers boeing commercial airplanes and eads airbus . 18 analysts further assert that it enables general electric to acquire assets similar to those it desired in its failed bid for honeywell in 2000 . 18 along with the purchase of smiths aerospace the purchase included opening the first university development center at michigan technological university in houghton michigan in the effort to work with engineering students to provide training in engineering and software development . the program has performed well and ge aviation has announced further udc openings at kansas state university . in july 2008 governments in the persian gulf reached agreements with ge to expand engine maintenance operations there . the wall street journal reported that mubadala development company which owns abu dhabi aircraft technologies an overhaul and maintenance company signed an agreement worth an estimated 8 billion with ge ; abu dhabi aircraft technologies will maintain and overhaul ge engines used in commercial aircraft purchased by airlines based in the persian gulf . 19 on december 23 2012 ge announced that it has agreed to purchase the aviation business of avio s.p.a. an italy based manufacturer of aviation propulsion components and systems for civil and military aircraft for 4.3 billion u.s. eur3 .3 billion . 20 recently they have started incorporating 3d printing technologies in their engines and have incorporated the manufacturing process in the newly designed ge9x the largest jet engine in the world . 21 products edit turbojets edit j31 i a and i 16 1942 45 j33 i 40 with later production by allison 1945 j35 with later production by allison 1946 j47 1948 j79 cj805 1955 j85 cj610 1958 light and low bypass turbofans edit cf700 f101 1970 tf34 cf34 1972 f404 1978 f110 1984 f118 1989 yf120 cancelled basis for f136 1989 cfe738 with honeywell 1993 f412 canceled f414 1995 f136 with rolls royce canceled hf120 with honda 2003 high bypass turbofans edit tf39 1968 cf6 1970 tf34 cf34 1972 cfm56 f108 with snecma 1982 ge90 1994 gp7200 with pratt & whitney 2006 genx 2007 leap x with snecma 2014 planned ge passport 2014 planned ge9x 2018 planned turboprops propfans edit ct7 1970s ge36 1980s t407 1980s t31 1940s ge walter h80 as of 2008 general electric advanced turboprop engine 2018 turboshafts edit t58 1953 t64 1964 t700 ct7 1978 ge38 2011 vehicle propulsion edit lv100 with honeywell industrial aero derivative and marine propulsion edit lm500 derived from ge tf34 lm1500 derived from ge j79 lm1600 derived from ge f404 lm2500 derived from ge tf39 and cf6 6 lm5000 derived from ge cf6 50 lm6000 derived from ge cf6 80c2 lms100 derived from ge lm6000 and frame gas turbine see also edit university development center references edit notes ge aviation history . ge aviation website . ge aviation facilities . ge aviation website . ge annual report 2015 . ge annual report 2015 . a b globenewswire february 19 2014 . curtiss wright reports fourth quarter and full year 2013 financial results . the street . ge to acquire smiths aerospace extending aviation offerings