Pratt and Whitney to build spare F-35A/C engines in $358.5M contract | World Defense

Pratt and Whitney to build spare F-35A/C engines in $358.5M contract

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Pratt and Whitney to build spare F-35A/C engines in $358.5M contract
July 1, 2019
By Ed Adamczyk

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A Pratt and Whitney F135-PW-100 engine, used on the F-35 Lightning II fighter plane, undergoes testing. Photo courtesy of Pratt and Whitney Military Engines/United Technologies Inc.

July 1 (UPI) -- Pratt and Whitney Military Engines will build spare engines for F-35 Lightning II fighter planes in a $358.5 million contract, the Defense Department announced.

The contract, announced Friday by the Pentagon, is a modification of a prior deal calling for production of eight F135-PW-100 propulsion systems, the engine used by the F-35A/C variants, and a single F135-PW-600 for the Global Spares Pool.

The 600 engine is more complex and costlier than the 100 version, and is used on the Marine Corps' F-35B short take-off and vertical landing variant of the plane.

The Global Spares Pool serves as a replacement parts facility for the U.S. military branches, non-Defense Department agencies and Foreign Military Sales customers. All three types of customer will share in the cost of the contract, with the U.S. Air Force contributing 34 percent, the U.S. Marine Corps 23 percent, the U.S. Navy seven percent, non-Defense Department agencies 28 percent and foreign customers eight percent.

Work will be largely performed at Pratt and Whitney's East Hartford, Conn., facility, with additional work at facilities in Indianapolis, Ind., and in Bristol, U.K., with a completion date of June 2022.

The Pentagon announced two other contracts related to F-35 development in June. Pratt & Whitney was awarded a $3.2 billion contract on June 1 to supply 233 propulsion systems for F-35 fighter planes. Over half the engines will go to non-U.S. militaries.

Days later Lockheed Martin announced that the company and the U.S. Defense Department reached a "handshake agreement" on a $34 billion contract to produce three future lots of F-35 Lightning II fighter planes at the lowest cost in the program's history. In the largest F-35 procurement yet, Lockheed Martin will produce 478 F-35s, with the company estimating that the F-35A expected to eventually cost less than $80 million per jet.

 
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