Fighter Engine Team

EVENDALE, OHIO -- The U.S. House of Representatives is leading the charge for defense acquisition reform by voting 400 to 30 on Thursday for a defense spending bill for fiscal year 2010 that includes $560 million in funding for the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Team's F136 engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

By supporting the F136 -- the competing JSF engine that is already more than 70 percent through its development -- the House sets the stage for annual, head-to-head competition to the F-35 propulsion system, and avoids a decades-long, $100 billion engine monopoly being handed to a sole-source provider. In the history of the JSF program, there has never been an engine competition.

The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team consistently receives top reviews from the Joint Program Office for program execution, including budget performance. The first production F136 engines are scheduled for delivery in 2012. Over time, the F136 engine program will more than pay for itself through decades of annual competitions that drive performance and cost improvements by design.

This year, the F136 engine has garnered support in both steps of the U.S. House budget process; defense authorization and defense appropriations.

"For 14 years, the F136 has received consistent, bipartisan support in Congress because competition is the critical cost-control mechanism for defense procurement," said David Joyce, President and CEO of GE Aviation. "The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team simply seeks the opportunity to compete."

More than $2.5 billion has been invested in developing the GE Rolls-Royce F136 engine, including more than $50 million from GE and Rolls-Royce. The benefits of competition have been verified by numerous studies and U.S. military experience. The JSF program's international partners in the F-35 program also support competing engines.

Speaking to Congressional Quarterly, House Defense Appropriations Chairman John P. Murtha this week described the F136 engine program as "absolutely critical," adding, "An alternative engine will provide cost savings through competition as well as provide greater reliability down the road."

History has shown that competition in aircraft engine programs significantly reduces cost, while improving safety, reliability, and contractor responsiveness. The "Great Engine War," the 20-year battle to power the F-16 fighter, demonstrated these exact results with cost savings of at least 20 percent.

The F136 engine is the most advanced fighter aircraft engine ever developed and will be available to power all variants of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the U.S. military and eight partner nations.

The first complete new-build F136 engine began testing earlier this year under the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) contract with the U.S. Government Joint Program Office for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The F136 engine is a product of the best technology from two world-leading propulsion companies. The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team has designed the only engine specifically developed for the F-35 aircraft, offering extra temperature margin and affordable growth.

F136 engine development is being led at GE Aviation in Evendale, Ohio (Cincinnati suburb), Ohio; and at Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The F-35 is a 5th-generation, multi-role aircraft designed to replace the AV-8B Harrier, A-10, F-16, F/A-18 Hornet and the United Kingdom's Harrier GR.7 and Sea Harrier, all of which are currently powered by GE or Rolls-Royce. Potential F-35 production for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines and international customers may reach as many as 5000 to 6000 aircraft over the next 30 years.

Editor's notes

The F136 engine is a product of the best technology from GE and Rolls-Royce, two world-leading propulsion companies. The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team has designed the only engine specifically developed for the F-35 aircraft, offering extra temperature margin and affordable growth. The F136 engine will be available to customers in 2012.

GE Aviation, with responsibility for 60 percent of the F136 program, is developing the core compressor and coupled high-pressure/low-pressure turbine system components, controls and accessories, and the augmentor. Rolls-Royce, with 40 percent of the F136 program, is responsible for the front fan, combustor, stages 2 and 3 of the low-pressure turbine, and gearboxes. International participant countries are also contributing to the F136 through involvement in engine development and component manufacturing.

The F136 engine is the most advanced fighter aircraft engine ever developed and will be available to power all variants of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft for the US military and eight partner nations. The F136 program has already totaled more than 800 hours of testing in SDD and pre-SDD testing.

The first test runs for the new F136 engine in early 2009 topped a year of significant achievements for the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team. The program successfully completed Critical Design Review in 2008, as well as completing the first testing at the unique, new Peebles, Ohio, test site, and full afterburner test runs at the US Air Force Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) test facility in Tennessee.

The F136 engine program has a solid history of executing its contract on schedule and within budget. As a result, the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team consistently receives top reviews from the JPO for program execution.

About 900 engineers and technicians are engaged in the F136 program at GE Aviation's Cincinnati, Ohio, headquarters, and at Rolls-Royce facilities in Indianapolis, Indiana; and Bristol, England.

The SDD phase is scheduled to run through 2013; the first production F136 engines are scheduled to be delivered in 2012 for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. This occurs during the fourth lot of F-35 aircraft production, which is very early in the overall aircraft production program.

The F-35 is a next-generation, multi-role stealth aircraft designed to replace the AV-8B Harrier, A-10, F-16, F/A-18 Hornet and the United Kingdom's Harrier GR.7 and Sea Harrier, all of which are currently powered by GE or Rolls-Royce making them the engine powers of choice for the U.S. and U.K. militaries. Potential F-35 production for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines and international customers, including the UK Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, may reach as many as 5000 to 6000 aircraft over the next 30 years.

For further information, contact:

George McLaren george.h.mclaren@rolls-royce.com U.S.: 317.230.8260

Rick Kennedy rick.l.kennedy@ae.ge.com U.S.: 513.243.3372

Nick Britton nick.britton@rolls-royce.com U.K.: 44.117.979.5943