This is how the $30M world's largest jet engine compares to the $3K world's smallest jet engine
Published on Sep 27, 2025 at 10:32 PM (UTC+4)
by Daisy Edwards
Last updated on Sep 24, 2025 at 3:51 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
Have you ever wondered about how the world’s largest jet engine, which costs $30 million, compares to the world’s smallest jet engine that’s just $3,000?
The world’s biggest jet engine was built for the beast that is the Boeing 777. Called the GE90, the engine alone is the size of an entire airplane.
For the price of a gaming PC, you could buy yourself the world’s smallest jet engine, the PBS TJ20A, which weighs just 2kg and was originally designed for RC jet models.
Some YouTubers decided to use a flight simulator to strap dozens of mini engines onto large planes to see what would happen.
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The world’s largest jet engine vs. world’s smallest jet engine
There are many different types of airplanes, big, small, cargo, passenger, and with all different wing spans and sizes, but each of these planes needs jet engines to fly.
Meet the GE90, the world’s largest and most powerful jet engine; it may even be the most powerful jet engine ever made.
The fan diameter is as wide as a Boeing 737 fuselage, and each one comes with cutting-edge engineering, exotic alloys, and massive thrust output.
Each one costs up to $30 million and produces 110,000lbs of thrust, easily enough to haul a fully-loaded wide-body across continents at 900km/h.
David Vs. Goliath
In the tiny corner, we have the PBS TJ20A, the world’s smallest and lightest jet engine, weighing in at a minuscule 2kg.
Originally designed for RC jet models and drones, the PBS TJ20A can actually power manned micro-planes like the tiny and quirky Cre Jet, which weighs just 80kg itself.
Its output is similar to that of a fit human’s bench press, around 45 pounds of thrust.
In an experiment done through a flight simulator, the YouTuber Swiss001 decided to see what would happen if you strapped the mini jet engines onto a normal-sized passenger plane to match the GE90.
It went about as well as you could imagine
The content creator found that you would need more than 4,500 of the world’s smallest engines strapped together to match the power of the GE90, showing how powerful it truly is.
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Daisy Edwards is a Content Writer at supercarblondie.com. Daisy has more than five years’ experience as a qualified journalist, having graduated with a History and Journalism degree from Goldsmiths, University of London and a dissertation in vintage electric vehicles. Daisy specializes in writing about cars, EVs, tech and luxury lifestyle. When she's not writing, she's at a country music concert or working on one of her many unfinished craft projects.
