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Williams International

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Williams International
Williams
FormerlyWilliams Research Corporation
IndustryAerospace
Founded1954 (1954)
FounderSam B. Williams
Headquarters
Pontiac, Michigan
,
United States
Websitewilliams-int.com

Williams International is an American manufacturer of small gas turbine engines based in Pontiac, Michigan, United States. It produces jet engines for cruise missiles and small jet aircraft.

History

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Dr. Sam B. Williams worked at Chrysler on their automotive turbine systems, but always imagined a wider set of applications for the small gas turbine engine. He left Chrysler to form Williams Research Corporation in Birmingham, Michigan, in 1954.[1][2] In 1981, the company became Williams International. It has been building small turbofan engines since the 1950s for use in cruise missiles as well as target and reconnaissance drones.

Using the missile engines, Williams developed a series of personal VTOL flying craft, including a jet-powered belt in 1969, the Williams Aerial Systems Platform (WASP), also known as the "flying pulpit" in the 1970s, and the X-Jet, which was evaluated by the United States Army in the 1980s.[3][4] The WASP platform was the only competitor to the Garrett STAMP in the United States Marine Corps STAMP (Small Tactical Aerial Mobility Platform) program of the early 1970s.

Also in the 1980s, Williams identified a need in the general aviation market for a small, light jet engine to power cost-effective personal and corporate jet aircraft. The company introduced the FJ44 engine, which in turn made possible the introduction of a number of small jet aircraft.[citation needed]

In 1992, NASA initiated its Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE) program to partner with manufacturers and help develop technologies that would revitalize the sagging general aviation industry. In 1996, Williams joined AGATE's General Aviation Propulsion program to develop a fuel-efficient turbofan engine that would be even smaller than the FJ44. The result was the FJX-2 engine. Williams then contracted with Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites to design and build the Williams V-Jet II, a Very Light Jet to use as a testbed and technology demonstrator to showcase the new engine. The aircraft and engine were debuted at the 1997 Oshkosh Airshow. The production version of the engine, the EJ22 flew on the prototype Eclipse 500 VLJ (which had evolved from the V-Jet II), but was subsequently replaced by a Pratt & Whitney engine.[citation needed]

Products

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Aircraft

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Model name First flight Number built Type
Williams X-Jet 1980 3 Flying platform
Williams V-Jet II 1997 1 Twin jet engine monoplane business jet

Engines

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Williams Model Number US Military Designation Configuration Power First Run Role
WR1 regenerative free-turbine turboshaft[5] 70 shaft horsepower[5] 1955 Installed in a small boat and run on the Detroit River.[6]
Jet No. 1 single-stage centrifugal compressor, annular burner, centrifugally-fed atomizing nozzles, and a single-stage axial turbine.[5] 60 lbf[5] 1957[5]
WR2-1 single-shaft, centrifugal/centrifugal-axial flow turbojet[5] 70 lbf[5] 1960[5]
WR2-2A single-shaft, centrifugal/centrifugal-axial flow turbojet[5] 95 lbf[5] 1962[5] Canadair CL-89
WR2-4 single-shaft, centrifugal/centrifugal-axial flow turbojet[5] 105 lbf[5] 1964[5] Canadair CL-89
WR2-5 single-shaft, centrifugal/centrifugal-axial flow turbojet[5] 115 lbf[5] 1965[5] Canadair CL-89
WR2-6 single-shaft, centrifugal/centrifugal-axial flow turbojet[5] 125 lbf[5] 1968[5] Canadair CL-89
WR24-6 J400-WR-400[7] single-shaft, centrifugal/centrifugal-axial flow turbojet[5] 121 lbf[5] 1968[5] Northrop MQM-74A Chukar I
WR24-7 J400-WR-402[7] two-stage axial/centrifugal compressor, centrifugal-axial flow turbojet[5] 176 lbf[5] 1973[5] Northrop MQM-74C Chukar II
WJ24-8E[8] J400-WR-104[9] two-stage axial/centrifugal compressor, centrifugal-axial flow turbojet 240 lbf[9] 1995[9] Raytheon AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW)
WJ24-8 J400-WR-404[7] two-stage axial/centrifugal compressor, centrifugal-axial flow turbojet[5] 240 lbf[7] 1983[7] Northrop BQM-74E Chukar III, Boeing X-48A
WR24-8G / WJ24-8G J400-WR-405[7] two-stage axial/centrifugal compressor, centrifugal-axial flow turbojet[5] 300 lbf[7] 2003[7] Northrop BQM-74F Chukar
WJ24-8M two-stage axial/centrifugal compressor, centrifugal-axial flow turbojet[5] 300 lbf 2014 MBDA Marte-ER
WR19 Williams F107 Turbofan 430 lbf 1969 AGM-86, BGM-109
Williams F112 twin-spool counter rotating turbofan 732 lbf 1985(?) X-36, X-50, AGM-129
Williams EJ22 3-spool medium-bypass ratio turbofan 770 lbf 2000(?) Eclipse 500 VLJ
Williams FJ33 Turbofan 1,846 lbf 1998(?) Cirrus Vision SF50
Williams FJ44 F129-WR Turbofan 1,900 lbf July 12, 1988 Cessna CitationJet
WR36-1[10] F121-WR-100 2-stage axial fan, 6-stage axial compressor, single spool turbofan[11] 70 lbf[11][12] July 30, 1984[11] Northrop AGM-136A Tacit Rainbow
WR38-15 / WJ38-15 / P8300‐15 F122-WR-100[13] twin-shaft, axial-centrifugal-flow turbofan 900 lbf[14] 2002 Northrop AGM-137A/MGM-137B TSSAM, Taurus KEPD 350
Williams WR34 Turboshaft
Williams WTS117 Canadair CL-327

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Sam Williams to Receive NBAA Meritorious Service Award; Skip Reed to Receive Doswell Award". Archived from the original on 2007-01-03. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
  2. ^ Richard A. Leyes and William A. Fleming, The History of North American Small Gas Turbine Aircraft Engines, p. 385
  3. ^ Williams WASP II
  4. ^ Kocivar, Ben. "Turbofan-powered flying carpet" Popular Science, September 1982. Accessed: September 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Mandle, Richard J. (November 14, 1977). Twenty Year Evolution of the WR2/WR24 Series of Small Turbojet Engines (Technical report). Los Angeles, California, United States: Society of Automotive Engineers. pp. 1–17. doi:10.4271/770998. ISSN 0148-7191. 770998.
  6. ^ Williams International Timeline (Television production). Williams International. April 14, 2022. Event occurs at 00:20. Retrieved April 10, 2026.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Williams International WR2/WR24 (Technical report). Sandy Hook, Connecticut, United States: Forecast International. October 2015. pp. 1–5. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
  8. ^ Meier, Nathan (3 Sep 2021). "Military Turbojet/Turbofan Specifications". Jet Engine Specification Database. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
  9. ^ a b c Parsch, Andreas (24 May 2007). "Raytheon (Texas Instruments) AGM-154 JSOW". Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
  10. ^ Leyes II, Richard A.; Fleming, William A. (1999). The History of North American Small Gas Turbine Aircraft Engines. Washington, DC, USA: Smithsonian Institution. p. 421. ISBN 1-56347-332-1.
  11. ^ a b c "Williams International F-121 Fanjet". National Museum of the United States Air Force. Dayton, Ohio, USA. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
  12. ^ Parsch, Andreas (15 November 2002). "Northrop AGM/BGM-136 Tacit Rainbow". Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
  13. ^ Parsch, Andreas (8 October 2002). "Northrop AGM/MGM-137 TSSAM". Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
  14. ^ Williams International F107/F122/F415 (Technical report). Sandy Hook, Connecticut, United States: Forecast International. October 2014. pp. 1–8. Retrieved 10 April 2026.

Bibliography

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  • Noland, David (November 2005). "The Little Engine That Couldn't". Air & Space. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  • Wahl, Paul (April 1974). "Jet Flight With No Wings". Popular Science. pp. 88–89 and 152.
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