East Hartford-based Pratt & Whitney has moved the manufacture of the engine that will power the Joint Strike Fighter into the early production phase after receiving a $60 million production contract from the Defense Department, company officials said last week.
The F135 engines will power the JSF, also designated the F-35 Lightning II.
“This contract is for long lead-time material covering 16 F135 engines supporting 12 production F-35 aircraft for Low Rate Initial Production 2,” said William Gostic, Pratt’s vice president for the F135 engine program.
The contract covers six conventional take-off and landing engines, six short-takeoff-vertical-landing propulsion systems, and two spares for each version, Gostic said.
“This contract is one of a series of milestones for the F135 propulsion system,” he said. The F135 recently exceeded 8,300 ground test hours, in addition to the more than 3,600 hours accumulated during the concept demonstration phase of the F-35 program, Gostic added.
“The F135 powered the F-35 Lightning II’s first flight in December 2006, and continues to power the flight test program with 19 flight tests to date,” he said.
Defense Department plans call for building 2,480 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in three versions for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. Hundreds of additional F-35s would be sold to the United Kingdom and other overseas allies.
Pratt is the exclusive engine maker for the JSF, although there has been an effort to bring in an alternative competing engine from Fairfield-based General Electric.
Pratt won a $4 billion slice of the Joint Strike Fighter order in 2002, just the tip of the expected $200 billion overall JSF production contract that the Pentagon awarded to Lockheed Martin for the next generation multipurpose military jet.
The JSF will travel at supersonic speeds, hover, and possess radar-evading stealth technology. Each service branch will receive an aircraft tailored to its needs.
In addition to Pratt, the F135 engine team includes Windsor Locks-based Hamilton Sundstrand, which makes the engine’s control and fuel systems, external accessories and gearbox. Hamilton also supplies the aircraft’s electric system and fire detection and suppression equipment.
Both Hamilton and Pratt are subsidiaries of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp.
Pratt also is the sole supplier of engines for the F-22 Raptor attack jet, and the C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft.
