The Saab 2000's power unit, the Allison GMA 2100 turboprop, is one of a family of three engines based on a common core: the T406 turboshaft, the GMA 3007 turbofan and the GMA 2100. The T406 powers the BellBoeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor; the GMA 3007 will power the Cessna Citation X business jet; and the GMA 2100 will power the Indonesian IPTN N-250 as well as the Saab 2000.

The GMA 2100 combines the power section (compressor, combustor and power turbine) of the T406 with a reduction gearbox derived from that of the Allison T56/501 turboprop which has had such widespread use in the Lockheed family of turboprop transports and maritime-patrol aircraft - the C-130 Hercules, L-100 freighter, L-188 Electra, P-3 Orion, E-2C Hawkeye and C-2A Greyhound. The prototype GMA 2100 was assembled from a T406 power section and a T56 gearbox: an example was fitted with a 3.96m-diameter six-bladed Dowty propeller and flown on a P-3 testbed airframe at an installed power of 4,475kW (6,000hp) for some 50h. Total running time so far on T406 and GMA 2100 power sections amounts to over 8,000h.

Allison has built eight complete GMA 2100s, of which two had been delivered to Saab by mid-November for installation on the prototype 2000, and three equivalent spare engines. While these engines are to the production specification in terms of power output, Allison does not regard them as production-standard engines because they were not built on production tooling. The first engines to be...