The General Electric-Rolls Royce team developing the F136 engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter expects to resume ground testing in late December or early January following identification of the root cause of a test engine issue that arose in September. GE spokesman Rick Kennedy told the Daily Report Wednesday that, during a planned boresight inspection of test engine No. 005 after it had “experienced normal operation and controlled shutdown” during a run to maximum power, the test team discovered damage to some turbine blades. Team engineers subsequently determined that this was caused by “small pieces of a diffuser panel mounting lug” that had come off. Kennedy said modified diffuser panels are being manufactured. He noted that this issue “does not require a re-design of the combustor.” This is contrary to an assertion made earlier this week at the Lexington Institute’s blog. (See also Lexington’s follow-on entry.)
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.