Arcam AB fka AMAVF

[33Sailor]

They did perform GE9X flight testing in 2016.

If they say 2018 then obviously that's the date. Wishful thinking on my part.

All the links are focused on blade production and in the last video around 13:00 the engineer from Avio says they "will" be using the new blades in sections 4, 5, and 6.

It's possible the 2016 flight testing was done with the blades and other components but without all the new components. It makes sense that any problems could then be addressed prior to final testing so everything is debugged and comes together to meet the final in-flight test schedule. And we know they are sensitive to potential blade failures.

My take is that their confidence in the EBM blade design & performance is solid enough that they see it as basically a done deal, with only some I's to dot and T's to cross. Didn't hear anything about blade "testing" only about blade "production".

Don't think they wouldn't make it the centerpiece of that much PR if it wasn't ready. They also wouldn't have bought 20 machines. That's way more than needed for prototyping. I seem to remember they started with 10 machines for process and LPT blade R&D.