[1]: 553 [2]: 932 Despite successful flight-testing, an efficient, quiet and clean design (compared to turbojets and conventional turbofans)[1]: 554–555 [3]: 1648 [4]: 1872 and some commercial interest,[5]: 1683 the Astafan never entered series production.
[1]: 554 The engine is designed to operate at a constant speed, no matter the thrust output—a characteristic permitted by the Astafan's use of precise fuel metering and fan blade pitch adjustment.
[1]: 555 The control system also monitors turbine temperature and adjusts blade pitch (and therefore engine load) to maintain it within the preferred range of 350 °C to 450 °C.
[1]: 553–554 The Astafan II line was based on the Astazou XVI turboshaft engine core with a cooled turbine, and was governed to operate at 43000 rev/min.
[10]: 66 It differed from the earlier Astafan II by incorporating a new, larger-diameter fan with blades that had a greater range of motion (improving upon the marginal reverse thrust capability that existed in prior versions).
[4]: 1872 Using this medium-bypass version of the Astafan instead of the Turbomeca Marboré, the 90 had twice the range of the Magister (with a similar fuel load).
[4]: 1872 Installed in the Fouga 90, and operating at its maximum thrust of 6.864 kN (1,543 lbf), the IIG's specific fuel consumption was 11 g/(s·kN) (0.38 lb/(h·lbf)).
Proposed installations included: Data from Turbomeca's Astafan - Flight International 20 April 72 [11]Related development