The Pentagon has awarded Raytheon Technologies‘ [RTX] Pratt & Whitney a more than $2 billion contract for F135 engines in Lot 17 of the Lockheed Martin [LMT] F-35 fighter buy, DoD said on June 5.
Work is expected to finish in December, 2025. Of the fiscal 2023 amount, more than $645 million is U.S. Navy funding, nearly $528 million is U.S. Air Force, while non-U.S. DoD participant funding is about $418 million and foreign military sales funding is about $401 million, the Pentagon said.
Last month, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said that the F135 will need a new or improved power and thermal management system (PTMS) to accomodate future weapons and sensors on the aircraft (Defense Daily, May 30).
The report said that the F135’s cooling system “is overtasked, requiring the engine to operate beyond its design parameters” and that “the extra heat is increasing the wear on the engine, reducing its life, and adding $38 billion in maintenance costs.”
The F-35 program is to hold a PTMS industry day in Crystal City, Va., on June 12-14.