The General Electric-Rolls Royce team says Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ arguments last week on Capitol Hill against continuing F136 engine work for the F-35 strike fighter are way off base. In a point-by-point rebuttal, the partners claim, for example, that the F136 program would not require an additional $2.5 billion over the next five years as Gates told Senate lawmakers on Feb. 2. (He cited $2.9 billion the next day to House members.) Instead, the companies say, “far less” would be required: about $1.3 billion to complete the engine’s development and cover the additional costs associated with tooling and support infrastructure. And contrary to Gates’ claim that none of the planned F-35 users really wants to have two engine suppliers, they said that all of the international partners signed the F-35 memorandum of understanding that “recognizes competing engines as a key [F-35] feature.” (Gates on F136) (GE-Rolls Royce statement)
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…