The United Arab Emirates military has ordered four C-17 Globemaster cargo planes powered by Pratt & Whitney engines, according to a statement from the Emirates’ official news agency.
The announcement came late last month at the 9th International Defense Conference and Exhibition 2009, according to the conference spokesman, Staff Major General Obaid Al Ketbi.
“These aircraft would contribute to modernization of the air defense and air forces fleet and boost the UAE capacity in delivering humanitarian assistance and relief at the international scene,” Al Ketbi said.
There was no separate announcement about engine orders, but each C-17 is powered exclusively by four Pratt & Whitney engines. Based on similar orders in the past, the engine portion of the contract will be for 16 engines plus spares, worth more than $126 million to Pratt.
“We look forward to working with Boeing and the United Arab Emirates to support their C-17 program, powered by the Pratt & Whitney F117 engine,” Pratt spokeswoman Erin Dick said in an e-mail Sunday, without elaboration.
The Emirates deal comes just a month after the U.S. Air Force in February awarded a contract to McDonnell Douglas for up to $2.95 billion for 15 C-17 Globemaster military cargo planes powered by Pratt engines, according to contract listings on the Defense Department’s Web site.
The buy was funded through federal defense appropriations approved by Congress in 2008, and did not represent an extension of the C-17 program yet.
Still, East Hartford-based Pratt’s share so far totals $340 million for 43 engines, according to a Pratt statement from Dick.
Overall, the full 15-plane contract will require 68 Pratt engines, including four engines per plane and eight spares, she said.
Although Pratt has not placed a value on the total contract, based on the existing orders the full deal should bring Pratt more than $530 million.
Pratt’s F117 engines are the exclusive power for the C-17s that have been used extensively by the military in both Iraq and Afghanistan. And the cargo plane has been generating strong business for Pratt, which in October won a major contract extension for maintenance of engines on the military cargo planes.
The maintenance agreement is worth up $1.4 billion to Pratt and included a one-year contract with the option to extend for two additional years through 2011, according to a statement in October from William Begert, Pratt’s vice president of business development and international programs.
The sales of C-17s also benefit Pratt corporate sibling Hamilton Sundstrand in Windsor Locks, which makes engine controls and other parts for the plane. Both Hamilton and Pratt are subsidiaries of Hartford-based United technologies Corp.
Pratt is a subsidiary of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp. Over the past 52 weeks UTC stock has traded between a low of $38.41 per share and a high of $75.86.
