Cessna Citation Hemisphere
Textron Aviation is putting development of its large-cabin Hemisphere jet on hold over Silvercrest engine development issues. Credit: Textron Aviation Inc.

US-based Textron Aviation has announced plans to suspend the development of its Citation Hemisphere large-cabin business jet.

Textron CEO Scott Donnelly said the Hemisphere could be revived at a later date, as reported by AINonline.

Donnelly said: “The engine hasn’t yet demonstrated the performance required for the aircraft.

“We would certainly revisit Hemisphere, but too much time has gone by here.”

Textron noted that the company is not satisfied with the progress on the development of the Safran-developed Silvercrest engine, which would power Hemisphere.

The initial contract on the Hemisphere programme was signed between Cessna (Textron Aviation) and Safran Aircraft Engines.

The termination does not have any financial impact on either of the partners.

Safran said in a statement: “While the aircraft/engine combination does not currently meet all the objectives, the Silvercrest engine development has made the intended progress over the past 12 months.

“The new high-pressure compressor shows performance for which ground tests results have exceeded expectations.”

Safran plans to conduct further tests on the engine improvements to complete its overall performance and durability validation.

Safran Aircraft Engines will continue to work on the Silvercrest technology suite as a research and technology (R&T) platform. The company will update Textron on the product completion, giving the latter, an option to reassess the engine.

In April 2017, Textron suspended the Hemisphere programme due to the high-pressure compressor issue and later acknowledged that it would make a decision to proceed after Safran came up with a solution.