South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration has awarded RTX‘s [RTX] Pratt & Whitney  a $355 million performance-based logistics (PBL) contract to sustain the F100 engine for the country’s F-16 and F-15 fighters, Pratt & Whitney said on Feb. 14.

The contract–the third PBL since 2012–“will support more efficient depot planning and improve overall fleet readiness through long-term material forecasting,” Pratt & Whitney said.

The sustainment work began in December last year and is to last through 2027.

Christ Johnson, Pratt & Whitney’s vice president of fighter and mobility programs, said in a statement that the PBLs provide “more strategic sustainment” for the Republic of Korea Air Force’s fighters.

International and sustainment sales are aiding the F100. In 2021, General Electric [GE] beat Pratt & Whitney to win a potentially $1.6 billion contract for GE F110 engines to power Lots 2 through 9 of the Boeing [BA] F-15EX fighter (Defense Daily, Oct. 19, 2021). Pratt & Whitney had offered the F100.

GE is to perform the F110 work in Cincinnati and San Antonio–work that may stretch through June 30, 2031.

The Atlanta-based 

Hermeus Corp. picked the Pratt & Whitney F100 as the turbine component of Hermeus’ planned Chimera II turbine-based combined cycle engine (TBCC)–a cross between a turbojet and ramjet engine–that is to generate hypersonic flight for Hermeus’ reusable Darkhorse drone (Defense Daily, Dec. 20, 2022).

Hermeus said on June 1 last year that it received the first F100 from Pratt & Whitney for Darkhorse engine testing this year.

Ramjets, which function best between Mach 3 and Mach 5, mix compressed air with ignited fuel to create thrust.

Hermeus is designing the Darkhorse for the military and intelligence market and believes that the TBCC, in contrast to rocket-based hypersonic engines, will allow Darkhorse to take-off from existing runways.

On Nov. 1 last year, Hermeus said that it had inked a multi-year contract with the Defense Innovation Unit to mature hypersonic aircraft technology. Hermeus CEO A.J. Pipica said that the DIU contract “is a key element of our bridge across the valley of death on the way to a future operational hypersonic aircraft.”