https://www.defensenews.com/air/2023...-upgrade-f135/
Pentagon rethinks F-35 engine program, will upgrade F135
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is abandoning its efforts to develop a next-generation adaptive engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, according to Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.
Instead, Kendall said during a March 10 briefing on the fiscal 2024 budget, the military will stick with, and upgrade,
the F-35’s current engine, in a major win for F135 maker Pratt & Whitney.
The decision means the military will not move forward with its Adaptive Engine Transition Program, an effort to fund research, development, prototyping and testing of a new kind of engine with enhanced thrust, power and cooling ability, The adaptive engine uses three streams of air to cool the engine and the jet, and has an adaptive cycle that allows it to adjust to the configuration that provides the most thrust and efficiency for a given situation.
Both General Electric Aviation and Pratt & Whitney had designed new engines as part of AETP, but only GE had pitched its engine — the XA100 — as a replacement for the F-35.
Military officials said Friday they determined Pratt & Whitney’s proposal to modernize the already existing F135s in a program called the Engine Core Upgrade was the most cost-efficient option that would work for all F-35s…..
Kendall also noted the military had serious doubts about GE’s ability to make its adaptive engine work in the F-35B, the Marine Corps variant.
“The Air Force, with the A variant, was the only service that was really seriously interested in AETP, for which it was a really good fit,” Kendall said. “There was some discussion about whether it could be made to go in the [Navy and Marine Corps’ carrier-based] C variant. But the Marine Corps variant was going to be very, very difficult, if not impossible.”…..