Pratt & Whitney has just completed 8,000 ground test hours with the F135 engine, the primary powerplant destined for the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Coupled with earlier testing during the fighter’s concept demonstration program, the F135 now has more than 11,000 test hours, which company F-135 engine VP Bill Gostic says demonstrates the engine’s “maturity, flexibility, and reliability.” In other engine news, P&W has received a $1.05 billion from the Air Force for new deliveries of F117 engines for C-17 airlifters, with deliveries running through 2012. The Air Force also awarded the engine maker $1.3 billion for delivery of F119 engines over the next three years for the F-22A fighter—part of the Raptor’s new multi-year procurement program.
The U.S. military is carrying out intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions along the southern border and off the coast of Mexico using U.S. Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint and U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft as part of the Pentagon’s effort to secure the southern border at the direction of President…