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COMPETITIVE ASSESSMENT OF TECHNOLOGY 133 supports this emphasis. As an example, out of every 10,000 citizens in the United States, 20 are lawyers, 40 are accountants, and 70 are engineers and scientists. In Japan, there are 1 lawyer, 3 accountants, and 400 engineers and scientists per 10,000 population. International Joint Ventures to Develop and Produce Commercial Transport Aircraft Engines The General Electric-SNECMA codevelopment agreement on the CFM56 was established in the early 1970s. Since then, joint-venture partnerships between an American engine manufacturer and European and Japanese manufacturers have become an established approach for new commercial transport engine programs. The following large commercial transport engine codevelopment and coproduction agreements are currently in place or are proposed: 2. GE/SNECMA/MTU CF6-50 3. GE/SNECMA/MTU/Volvo Flygmotor CF6-80 4. Pratt & Whitney/MTU/Fiat PW2037 5. Pratt & Whitney/MTU/Fiat/Rolls Royce/IHI/MHI/KHI *V2500 * International Aero Engines, Inc. Recently, Pratt & Whitney and General Electric have been studying advanced turbofan engines with technology beyond that of the NASA-sponsored Energy Efficient Engine (E3) demonstrators. These studies have identified further potential for improving fuel consumption of about 12 percent, which could be available after the year 2000. Additionally, the propfan concept, mentioned earlier, utilizing a thin-bladed propeller of advanced design to operate efficiently at flight speeds approaching those of turbofan-powered airplanes, holds promise of reducing fuel consumption by up to 30 to 35 percent compared with today's turbofans. The appreciable potential gains available from propulsion systems make it reasonable to assume that new commercial engine program opportunities will emerge. With international joint ventures likely for future commercial transport engine development programs, it is important that U.S. engine manufacturers maintain their current technical leadership and thus retain the lead role in future development programs. The maintenance of technical leadership and the retention of market shares large enough to support the production base of the U.S. engine industry will be challenging in the face of development and production subsidies extended by foreign governments to their manufacturers.
