Senate Panel to Pentagon: 'Reassess' Value of Alternate F-35 Engine | Defense News | defensenews.com
WASHINGTON — In the wake of an engine fire that grounded the F-35 fleet, a US Senate subcommittee wants senior Pentagon officials to consider reviving an effort to develop a second power plant.
In 2011, the Pentagon ordered GE and Rolls-Royce to stop work on a second F-35 fighter engine, with the Obama administration calling it an example of wasteful defense spending. The department, in announcing a stop-work order three years ago, dubbed the F136 power plant program a “waste of taxpayer money that can be used to fund higher departmental priorities.” Proponents of what long was known simply as “the alternate engine program” claimed it would have saved substantial amounts of money over the life of the F-35 fleet, while also providing a safety net should the F-35’s primary power plant, being developed by Pratt & Whitney, suffer a major problem.
One day after the Pentagon lifted the fleet-wide grounding order — but with speed limitations — a Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee (SAC-D) report on its 2015 Pentagon spending bill surfaced with language showing lawmakers are having second thoughts about approving the F136 termination. The report states that SAC-D members believe “that had the alternate engine program continued, competition would have incentivized the F135 engine manufacturer to find creative methods to drive down prices and ensure timely delivery of a high-quality product, which is consistent with current department preference for competition in acquisitions,” states the report.
The legislation, which the full Senate Appropriations Committee is set to approve Thursday morning, “recommends” senior Pentagon officials “reassess the value of an alternate engine program creating competition to improve price, quality and operational availability,” according to the report..........
Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall, also speaking in the UK, expressed confidence in Pratt & Whitney and indicated a reintroduction of a second engine for competitive purposes was not in the cards. “Overall we’re confident in the design. We’re still in development, we still have work to do, [largely] on the margins, but overall we’re confident,” he said. “We’re not interested in this point in going back several years and opening up to another competitor.”
Because of spending caps etched into existing US laws, if Congress decides to bring the F136 program back to life, it would require something else within the Pentagon’s annual budget to be cut.......
Other program decisions:.......
EA-18G. The bill adds $1.2 billion to buy 12 unrequested EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, and provides $100 million “to extend current production to a minimum production rate of two aircraft per month.”........