East Hartford’s Pratt & Whitney and the Defense Department have agreed in principle to a price cut of up to 6.4 percent on production contracts for the ninth and 10th lots of F135 propulsion systems to power the F-35 Lightning II aircraft.
The Department of Defense and Pratt & Whitney announced the ninth and 10th low rate initial production (LRIP) contracts will cover 66 and 101 total engines respectively, as well as program management, engineering support, production non-recurring efforts, spare modules and spare parts.
“This agreement for the next two lots of F135 engines continues to drive down costs and that’s critical to making the F-35 more affordable for the U.S. military and our allies,” said Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, F-35 program executive officer, in a statement.
Pratt said in the statement total award value will be released when the contracts are finalized; however, in general, the unit prices for the propulsion systems are reduced 3.4 percent from the previously negotiated price for the eighth lots to the negotiated price for the 10th lots. The unit prices for the 13 LRIP 9 and 14 LRIP 10 short takeoff and vertical landing propulsion systems are reduced 6.4 percent from the previously negotiated LRIP 8 price to the negotiated LRIP 10 price.
To date, Pratt & Whitney has delivered 262 F135 engines. Deliveries of LRIP 9 engines will begin this year and deliveries of LRIP 10 engines will start in 2017.
