US Naval Air Systems Command awarded $4.38 billion F-35 engine contract

17 June 2022

23 Less than a minute

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The US Naval Air Systems Command has awarded Pratt and Whitney a $4.38 billion contract to deliver 178 F-35 fighter engines.

The contract includes 152 F135-PW-100 and 26 F135-PW-600 propulsion systems.

The company will deliver 108 PW-100 engines for the US Air Force’s F-35A Conventional Take-Off and Landing aircraft, while navy and marine corps F-35Cs will receive 29 and 15, respectively.

The more complex and expensive PW-600 engines will be delivered for the marine corps Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing F-35B aircraft.

Pratt & Whitney’s F135 engine. Image: Pratt & Whitney

Contract Could Rise to $8 billion

The contract also covers “long lead-time components, parts, and materials associated with F135-PW-100 and F135-PW-600 propulsion systems for non-US Department of Defense participants and Foreign Military Sales customers,” including a “Block 4 Short Take-Off Vertical Landing developmental test engine for flight test efforts.”

The contract could potentially increase to as much as $8 billion “with an option of up to 518 (maximum quantity) engines and equivalents,” Air Force Magazine reported, quoting a Pratt and Whitney spokesperson.

The contract runs through September 2024, and the deliveries are expected to begin “later this year through the end of 2025.”

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