Rolls-Royce reports that the Pearl 15 programme has successfully achieved 10,000 test cycles in over 2,600 testing hours. Six individual Pearl 15 development engines with 14 builds have been used in 27 test campaigns. The campaigns include tests under extreme icing conditions, massive water ingestions, lightning strikes and long-lasting maturity runs.

The company’s site in Dahlewitz, Germany, has already started to build the first production standard engines and is preparing for the production ramp-up while maturity testing is on track to support a smooth entry into service at the end of 2019.

The engine received EASA certification in February and was unveiled at the EBACE Conference in Geneva in May, in parallel with the new Bombardier Global 5500 and Global 6500 jets, both of which are exclusively powered by the Pearl 15.

The Pearl engine combines innovative technologies derived from Rolls-Royce’s Advance2 technology demonstrator programmes with proven features from the BR700. The Pearl 15 is equipped with a new-generation Engine Health Monitoring System that introduces advanced vibration detection. Other features include advanced remote engine diagnostics and bi-directional communications that allow for easy remote reconfiguration of engine-monitoring features from the ground.

The Pearl 15 features the same nacelle envelope as the BR710 but is more powerful, with a maximum certified thrust of 15,250lb. According to Rolls-Royce, it offers up to 7% better specific fuel consumption, is two dB cumulative quieter and shows a 20% improvement in NOx emissions margin.