For the past 67 years, Aviation Week, a premier source of international aerospace, defence, and aviation news, has presented the Laureate Awards as a way of honouring new and groundbreaking achievements across the industry. In the past decade, GE Aerospace has been recognized for a slew of innovations, from its use of additive manufacturing in the design of the Catalyst turboprop engine (2019) and its forward-thinking Military Officer Leadership Program (2021) to three advanced inspection technologies just last year (ultrasonic immersion, the Blade Inspection Tool, and the Soft ElectroNics Skin-Innervated Robotic Worm, aka Sensiworm).
On March 6, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., the company was recognized again, this time with connections to four awards in three categories — Commercial Aviation, Defense, and Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) — as well as the Pathfinder Award, which went to GE Aerospace Chairman and CEO Larry Culp.
Here’s a look at this year’s Laureate Award winners and their accomplishments.
XA100
In the Defense category, GE Aerospace was recognized for its continued work designing and developing the XA100 adaptive cycle engine as part of the U.S. Air Force’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP). The XA100 program was founded to meet the challenge posed by the USAF to the jet propulsion industry to produce the next generation of fighter engines that can go farther and faster while carrying increasingly advanced electronics and systems.
The XA100 engine combines three key innovations in combat propulsion performance: an adaptive cycle engine that can switch from a high-thrust mode for maximum power to a high-efficiency mode for optimum fuel savings and loiter time; a third-stream architecture that provides twice as much thermal management capacity as current fighter engines, enabling future mission systems for increased combat effectiveness; and extensive use of advanced component technologies, including ceramic matrix composites (CMCs), polymer matrix composites (PMCs), and additive manufacturing.
At this point, the XA100 program has logged hundreds of hours of system-level performance and operability testing. The rigorous campaign, which wrapped up in June 2024, spanned two separate prototype engines that were tested in the company’s high-altitude test chamber in Ohio, as well as the USAF’s world-class Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) in Tennessee.
“Our team is honoured to be part of this award in recognition of their hard work and innovation,” said Steve “Doogie” Russell, vice president and general manager of Edison Works at GE Aerospace. “The XA100 adaptive cycle engine can provide our warfighters a critical advantage in the air domain.”
Airbus A321XLR
In the Commercial Aviation category, CFM International was recognized for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency’s certification of the Airbus A321XLR passenger jet with CFM LEAP-1A* engines. As the extra long-range version of the A321neo, the A321XLR is the fifth member of the A320neo family to be powered by CFM LEAP engines, which provide 15% better fuel efficiency and 15% lower CO2 emissions versus CFM56 engines and a significant improvement in noise. The first A321XLR entered commercial service with Iberia in November 2024.
“The CFM LEAP-powered A321XLR gives operators much greater route scheduling flexibility,” said Gaël Méheust, president and CEO of CFM International, at the Farnborough International Airshow last year. “We didn’t need to make any modification to the engine because we designed it with 35,000-pound thrust capability from the beginning to support longer-range, higher-max-takeoff-weight aircraft.” With more than 3,700 CFM LEAP-powered aircraft in service, the engine has experienced the fastest ramp-up of engine flight hours ever in the aviation industry, surpassing 60 million hours in eight years.
NASA Electric Aircraft Testbed
Located on the premises of the Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) is that rare thing — a reconfigurable testbed used to design, develop, assemble, and test electric aircraft power systems.
As the awards citation notes, it provides “an emerging industry with the crucial capability to test megawatt-class electric propulsion systems at simulated cruise altitudes, paving the way for the electrification of regional and single-aisle airlines.”
In 2022, at NEAT, GE Aerospace completed the world’s first test of a megawatt-class and multi-kilovolt hybrid electric propulsion system in altitude conditions that simulate single-aisle commercial flight. To represent the right- and left-engine sides of an aircraft, two sets of a hybrid electric system were operated in conditions like those found at 45,000 feet.
“At GE Aerospace, we think the future of flight is more electric. To that end, we’re pursuing a range of hybrid electric programs that will demonstrate the integration of power electronics with gas turbines compatible with multiple energy sources, meeting our customers’ needs for more efficient propulsion systems,” said Christine Andrews, executive hybrid electric systems leader for GE Aerospace.
Aviation Supply Chain Integrity Coalition
Recognized in the MRO category, the Aviation Supply Chain Integrity Coalition was formed in 2024 after CFM International and its parent companies, GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines, discovered that a rogue actor sold engine parts with forged documents. While an extensive review found that fewer than 1% of CFM engines were affected, GE Aerospace led the formation of the coalition with Airbus, American Airlines, Boeing, Delta Air Lines, Safran, StandardAero, and United Airlines to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
Guided by co-chairs Robert Sumwalt and John Porcari, the coalition conducted a nine-month investigation and produced a report with 13 recommendations that focus on strengthening vendor accreditation, digitizing documents and signatures, and improving part traceability.
“We were able to quickly ring-fence the problem last year, but aviation safety demands not stopping there,” said GE Aerospace Chief Transformation Officer Phil Wickler.
Pathfinder Award
GE Aerospace Chairman and CEO Larry Culp received this year’s Pathfinder Award for transforming the company and introducing a new, proprietary lean operating model called FLIGHT DECK.
“Culp has reinvigorated GE Aerospace with a culture of candour and facing into problems and a relentless focus on lean,” the award citation states. “His signature initiative, FLIGHT DECK, partners leaders at the aircraft engine maker with workers and suppliers to remove barriers to productivity and create a safer, more effective work environment.”
The citation went on to point out that GE Aerospace hired 900 new engineers and invested $650 million to upgrade its manufacturing facilities and supply chain in 2024, and called Culp “one of the industry’s most consequential CEOs in recent years.”
