The U.S. Air Force has awarded General Electric [GE] a contract that could be worth nearly $1.6 billion for the company’s F110 engines to power Lot 2 and possibly seven other lots of the Boeing [BA] F-15EX fighter.
Included in the contract are 29 F110s for Lot 2, and the seven other lots have 300 engines.
GE beat out long-time competitor, Pratt & Whitney [RTX], which had offered its F100 engine. The Air Force had picked GE to build eight engines for Lot 1 but opened Lots 2-9 to competition.
For the competition, Pratt had touted the F100 engine’s “power, performance, and reliability” in powering F-15s since 1972.
“With more than 28 million hours flown by 23 nations, the F100 has proven itself an invaluable asset for our customers around the world, and our extensive sustainment network at USAF F-15 bases worldwide will ensure the engine is mission ready and delivers excellent value and superior capability to the U.S. Air Force as it conducts global operations,” Pratt had said.
GE said it is delivering engines for F-15EXs in Lot 1, including two test aircraft at Eglin AFB, Fla.
Shawn Warren, GE’s vice president and general manager of combat and trainer engines, said in a GE statement that the engines on the test aircraft have performed well.
The F110 “is the only engine tested and integrated on the fly-by-wire F-15EX,” per GE. “In 2014, GE began investing resources and made a long-term commitment to become qualified on the Advanced F-15.”
The company said that the F110 powers “every new production F-15 ordered in the last decade.”
GE is to perform the F110 work in Cincinnati and San Antonio–work that may stretch through June 30, 2031.