Aircraft Propulsion

Darryl Roberson knows a little bit about flying jets. After flying F-4s, F-15s, F-16s, and F-22s over a 34-year Air Force career—a rarity in a modern, specialized world—he’s now helping to bring a new age of modern engineering and manufacturing to today’s warfighters.

Verbatim

Sept. 2, 2022
A collection of airpower, space power, and national security quotes.
Reduced competition, over-reliance on legacy systems, and declining funding are all contributing to a “critical inflection point” in propulsion for the Pentagon and industry members—and things are headed in the wrong direction, the director of the Air Force’s propulsion directorate warned. Speaking with reporters at ...
The Air Force’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program is demonstrating and maturing key technologies, but it won’t produce the engine that powers the service’s Next Generation Air Dominance fighter, a key acquisition official said. That engine will come from the lesser-known Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program, ...
GE’s AETP offering, called the XA100, delivers 25% better fuel efficiency, twice the thermal management capacity, and at least 10% more thrust than the existing F-35 engine. The XA100’s three test campaigns—including one currently taking place at the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC)—have ...
Meeting with reporters, industry leaders, and military officials from across the world at the Farnborough International Airshow, engine-makers Pratt & Whitney and GE Aviation laid out their competing visions for the future of F-35 propulsion. While executives from both companies agreed that the fifth-gen fighter’s ...