General Electric and Pratt & Whitney have won engine improvement contracts from the US Air Force worth more than $4.6 billion over the next 15 years.
The US Defense Department describes the unusual arrangement as an "indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract", and says it reflects increasing USAF awareness that more resources are required to sustain its ageing inventory. The Component Improvement Programme covers long-lead funding for the continuation of spare parts supply as well as improvements to various components, systems and subsystems.
The GE contract, which runs from January 2000 to December 2014, covers support of the F110 for the Lockheed Martin F-16 as well as the TF39 on the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. Other long-lead support engines include the TF34 on the Fairchild A-10, the F101 on the Rockwell B-1B, and the F118 on the Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit.
The F108 (military designation for the CFM International CFM56-2) engine for the large Boeing KC-135 tanker fleet is also included, as is the J85 which powers the Northrop T-38 trainer.
GE, which is due to receive the first $85 million of its $1.98 billion slice of the deal in 2000, says the J85 work is not related to the compressor upgrade project being pursued as an off-the-shelf commercial procurement programme (Flight International, 27 October-2 November).
P&W's $2.68 billion deal covers an equally varied set of engines including the F100 engine on the Boeing F-15 as well as the F-16, and the F119 on the Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor. Older engines covered by the deal include thousands of TF33s powering Boeing B-52s, E-3 Sentrys and some KC-135s, as well as Lockheed C-141 Starlifters. Also included is support of the remaining J57 engines in the inventory used to power some McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms.
Source: Flight International
