Safran Helicopter Engines and Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) announce the issue of the Type Certificate for the WZ16 turboshaft from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Installed in the AVIC AC352 helicopter, the WZ16 is the first jointly-developed aero engine to be entirely certified by Chinese authorities.
Also known as the Ardiden 3C, the WZ16 has been jointly developed and built by Safran Helicopter Engines, with Harbin Dongan Engine and Hunan Aerospace Propulsion Research Institute (HAPRI), both parts of the AECC consortium. The Ardiden 3C was certified by EASA in April 2018.
The WZ16/Ardiden 3C is a new-generation turboshaft in the 1,700-2,000 shp range. The Ardiden 3 family has completed over 10,000 hours of tests, confirming high levels of design maturity and competitive operating and maintenance costs. It features a remarkably compact modular architecture, a best-in-class power-to-weight ratio and low cost-of-ownership. It also delivers at least 10 % better fuel consumption than engines operating in the same power range.
