Senate Votes to Slash Funding for Alternate F-35 Jet EngineJuly 30, 2009
 The U.S. Senate struck a blow to General Electric and the Rolls-Royce Group when it cut funding for an jet engine the companies were building as an alternate power source for Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Defense Secretary Robert Gates had pressed Congress to halt funding the alternate engine, the F136, arguing that the second engine was unnecessary and would slow development of the F-35 program, according to Reuters. While the Senate voted to cut $439 million for the F136 engine from the overall $680 billion defense budget, the program is not necessarily dead. Two committees in the House of Representatives continue to support it, according to the Reuters article. The Senate and the House will have to resolve their differences before submitting the final defense bill for President Barack Obama to sign into law. Since 2006, the Pentagon has cut funding for the GE/Rolls-Royce alternate engine program only to have it restored by program allies in Congress, according to an article in Flightglobal, a U.K-based news site. The GE/Rolls-Royce engine was scheduled for flight-testing in 2011, a little behind schedule, according to the article. Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies, is building the main engine, dubbed the F135. The House has criticized that program for delays and cost overruns. |
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