Jun. 6—After a dogfight with a major rival to hang onto a huge military contract, Pratt & Whitney workers in East Hartford and Middletown are getting to work on new F135 engines for F-35 Lighting II fighters. That work includes engine upgrades to provide more power and efficiency, and after the Pentagon ordered a freeze in production after grounding the fleet for multiple months after a crash.
On Monday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Defense announced the release of $2 billion to purchase the F-35 Lightning II engines, the first of three new "lots" of engines to be produced by the Raytheon subsidiary that is among Connecticut's largest employers at its East Hartford headquarters and a sprawling plant in Middletown.
Through December, Pratt & Whitney has delivered more than 1,000 engines for the F-35 Lightning II. In March, the Pentagon approved three new "lot" purchases of the engine, with Pratt & Whitney stating at the time it expected to produce nearly 280 engines under the new orders and possibly more if the military orders additional jets under contractual options.
About $500 million under the newest tranche will fund work in East Hartford and Middletown through the end of 2025, with roughly another $60 million in store for subcontract work with an unspecified supplier in Cromwell and about $20 million each for work at unnamed contractors in Manchester and Cheshire.
Lockheed Martin builds F-35 jets in Fort Worth, Texas, with the Air Force, Navy and Marines all using the fighter. The fleet was grounded last December after vibrations in a part were thought to have been the cause of a plane crashing.
Pratt & Whitney estimates that the F135 program supports more than 53,000 jobs in three-dozen states including Connecticut. The 1,000th F-35 Lightning II is anticipated to be completed next month in Forth Worth, with the Pentagon anticipating ordering about 2,400 fighters in all, according to the Government Accountability Office.
In a GAO overview of the F-35 program last summer, GAO reported that over 12 months through February 2022, the number of fighters with inoperable engines has escalated beyond the Pentagon's internal allowances. GAO advised the Department of Defense to develop better forecasting methods for spare parts with Pratt & Whitney.
Ohio-based GE Aerospace proposed a new engine in an attempt to wrest away a piece of the business, but the Pentagon ended up approving the core upgrades to the existing F135 engines instead, at a project cost of $2 billion.
Both GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney have produced engines for the F-16 fighter, which this past weekend produced the sonic boom over Washington, D.C., as fighters were scrambled to intercept a wayward civilian jet that crashed after its pilot had become incapacitated.
Includes prior reporting by Luther Turmelle.
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