Pratt & Whitney's F119-PW-100 engine for the Boeing/Lockheed Martin F/A-22 Raptor fighter continues to meet delivery, performance and other requirements as the programme advances.
"The 100th F119 engine was delivered in late November. Flight testing continues to be excellent and costs are coming down significantly," says Bennett Croswell, director of F119 engine programmes at P&W.
Support
"The bases where the aircraft will be deployed are being prepared to support the engines.
"We're proud of our progress on this programme."
Pratt & Whitney has received five production award contracts since 1998 and the 100th engine is part of the Lot 2 contract. Delivery of Lot 3 engines stars early in 2004 and Pratt & Whitney is expected to produce 653 engines under the current programme, although that number will grow if USAF requirements are endorsed in future budget cycles.
The F119 is benefiting from a Producibility Improvement Programme (PIP), in which engineers develop better and less costly ways of performing various manufacturing tasks.
Numerous manufacturing changes are improving the engine while saving money and allowing Pratt & Whitney to meet target price curve requirements for all production engine lots.
More than 250 cost reduction initiatives have been put in place since 2001.
The F119 features a unique thrust vectoring nozzle while special materials and designs enhance the stealth characteristics of the aircraft.
The F119 is a 32,000lb (140kN) thrust class engine which enables the F/A-22 to supercruise, or achieve supersonic speeds without using the afterburner.
The Joint Strike Fighter, in all its versions, is also powered by derivatives of the F119 developed by Pratt & Whitney.
The twin-engined F/A-22, scheduled to enter service in 2005, has accumulated more than 8,200h of flight test experience, mostly in the skies over California's Edwards Air Force base.
Operational testing has begun at Nellis AFB, Nevada and a Pratt & Whitney team is on-site, supporting the F119 as pilots fly the aircraft, developing tactics that would be used in combat.
The F/A-22 will also be based at Tyndall AFB, FL, home of the USAF's 325th Fighter Wing, ‘the schoolhouse' where future F-22 pilots will be trained to fly and fight this 21st Century air dominance fighter.
At both Nellis and Tyndall, Pratt & Whitney will train pilots and mechanics in the maintenance of the engine, which is surprisingly simple, given its significant capability.
Controls
It takes only six tools and 20min to remove all controls and externals, the engine having only 40% of the parts of its predecessors.
Modular construction, colour-coded harnesses and simple connectors make the engine easier to support and maintain so it will need only a quarter of the number of the shop visits for routine maintenance, when compared with its earlier brethren.
Source: Flight Daily News
