Pratt & Whitney Stands Behind Cost Commitment On F135 Engine For F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

F135 Engine For F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

DTN News: Pratt & Whitney Stands Behind Cost Commitment On F135 Engine For F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

(NSI News Source Info) EAST HARTFORD, Conn., USA - September 16, 2009: Pratt & Whitney's F135 engine powering the F-35 Lightning II aircraft continues to realize production cost reduction benefits, and Pratt & Whitney has offered to provide the F-35 Joint Program Office with a firm fixed price proposal for the F135 engine if requested. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX - News) company. The F-35 is the result of the Defense Department's Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, which sought to build a multirole fighter optimized for the air-to-ground role with secondary air-to-air capability.

The JSF requirement was to meet the needs of the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and allies, with improved survivability, precision engagement capability, and reduced life cycle costs. By using many of the same technologies developed for the F-22, the F-35 has the opportunity to capitalize on commonality and modularity to maximize affordability.

"The F135 program has reached a level of maturity where we've been able to work aggressively to reduce costs through more efficient manufacturing processes and improved supplier performance," said Warren Boley, vice president, Pratt & Whitney F135 programs. "Working closely with the Joint Program Office, we have made significant progress over the last several months in reducing costs. The company's F135 engine Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lot 4 contract proposal reflects confidence in the aggressive cost reductions actions underway by providing the Joint Program Office special protections against cost growth and incentives for significant cost reduction. In fact, Pratt & Whitney stands ready to offer a firm fixed price to the JPO at their request," Boley said.

Pratt & Whitney's LRIP 4 contract proposal covers production, sustainment, spare parts and engineering support for 37 F135 engines, consisting of 20 conventional take-off and landing (CTOL)/carrier variant (CV) and 17 short-takeoff/vertical-landing (STOVL) engines for F-35 aircraft.

The same methodology that Pratt & Whitney and the U.S. Government used to achieve a 30 percent cost reduction on the F119 engine is being employed on the F135 engine. This aggressive approach was successfully used in the early days of the F119 engine program and provides confidence that similar results can be achieved on the F135.

"We continue to work in close cooperation with the Joint Program Office to reach our cost goals. Our LRIP 4 offer demonstrates our confidence in our cost reduction plan," Boley said. "This will also give our customer confidence in our processes and progress in reducing the future unit recurring flyaway costs for the F135 engine."

Pratt & Whitney has designed, developed and tested the F135 to deliver the most advanced fifth generation fighter engine for the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, as well as eight international partner countries. The F135, which has logged 12,000 test hours, is derived from proven technology of the only operational fifth generation fighter engine, the Pratt & Whitney F119, which has more than 100,000 operational flight hours. It has been further enhanced with technologies developed in several Air Force and Navy technology programs.

The F135 is the only engine powering the F-35 Lightning II flight test program. The F135 propulsion system has proven it can meet diverse aircraft requirements, and the ground-and-flight-test experience demonstrates the maturity and the associated reliability of the F135 engine for armed forces around the world.

Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and building industries.

This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning future business opportunities. Actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to changes in funding related to the F-35 aircraft and F135 engines, changes in government procurement priorities and practices or in the number of aircraft to be built; challenges in the design, development, production and support of technologies; as well as other risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those detailed from time to time in United Technologies Corp.'s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.