GE and Rolls-Royce Abandon Alternate Engine Fight for JSFDecember 09, 2011
 General Electric and Rolls-Royce announced that they are pulling the plug on the alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, The Hartford Courant reported. Even after the Pentagon and the White House dropped support of the alternate engine program, and Congress killed funding, GE and Rolls-Royce had insisted they would keep it alive even if they had to self-fund the program. But there has been an about-face. "The decision, reached jointly by GE and Rolls-Royce leadership, recognizes the continued uncertainty in the development and production schedules for the JSF Program," GE said in a statement. Richard Tortoriello, an analyst with Standard & Poor's Equity, told the Courant that the victory for Pratt & Whitney might be anti-climactic, given that the government has been pushing the delivery date for the full complement of planes further into the future. "The longer it takes to go up to higher lot quantities, the greater the cost," Tortoriello told the Courant. Because of the greater cost, the Pentagon is likely to buy fewer planes. "I expect the F35 program to be a sizable program; I also expect it will be scaled back from where it is right now." GE has been developing the engine for 15 years and was 80% complete, according to the Courant. |
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