In 2002, the first MT30 development engine, the D1, was produced and testing began in August of that same year. The initial purpose of the program was to complete
proof of concept, and initial functional testing of the engine. The first D1 engine test was successful, and demonstrated the robustness of the engine design. In March of 2003, after achieving 258 hours of running, including 126 hours of endurance testing, the D1 engine was removed, following the development of the D2 engine. In June, 2003, the second development engine, the D2, began functional testing. The D2 engine was built close to production standard, and included a large level of instrumentation. The development of the D2 aimed to clear the majority of operational and functional requirements required for the final MT30 engine. Testing of the D2 engine concluded in August of 2003, after 110 hours of functional testing.
Rolls-Royce, following the successful testing of the D1, and D2 engines, commenced a program of testing aimed at clearing the MT30 engine for an ABS approval. This required for the MT30 engine to successfully complete 198, 8 hour operation cycles for a total of 1500 hours of running time. The ABS test was successfully completed in July, 2004. Only one significant issue arose during the test,
a bearing was damaged due to debris being trapped by
magnetic chip detectors in the oil system, which was later fixed. Following the successful ABS test, the MT30 was certified for production. == Engineering information ==