Raytheon Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney military engines unit received a $4.385 billion Naval Air Systems Command contract for 178 of its F135 engines to power all variants of the F-35 fighter, the Pentagon announced. The eventual contract value could be as much as $8 billion.
The contract is a not-to-exceed, undefinitized modification to the Lots 15 and 16 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter production, according to the Pentagon.
The contract funds the F135 engine only. The F-35 Joint Program Office is still negotiating the Lot 15-17 contract for the F-35 fighter airframe with Lockheed Martin.
The award funds:
- 108 F135-PW-100 engines for the Air Force’s F-35As.
- 29 F135-PW-100s for the Navy/Marine Corps’ F-35Cs
- 26 F135-PW-600 engines for Marine Corp F-35Bs, which include the lift fan element unique to that variant.
The contract also covers long-lead items and materials for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) F-35 customers as well as non-U.S. F-35 partners; along with an undisclosed number of spare engines, power modules, and parts for the F-35 global spares system. Additionally, the contract funds a Block 4 developmental engine for short takeoff/vertical landing testing.
A Pratt & Whiney spokesperson said adding the additional parts and modules makes the deal for “more than 250 engines or equivalents.”
He said the agreement, struck with the Joint Program Office in April, “covers the base production and option quantities for up to 518 (maximum quantity) engines and equivalents with a contract value, if all options are exercised, of approximately $8 billion. Engine deliveries are set to begin later this year through the end of 2025.”
The contract runs through September 2024, and the bulk of the work will be done in Pratt & Whitney’s Connecticut facilities as well as in various locations around the U.S.
The Navy portion of the contract is worth $912.8 million, with the funds coming from a combination of fiscal 2021 and 2022 appropriations. The Air Force work is worth $986.1 million over those fiscal years. The non-DOD customer work is valued at $636.2 million, and the FMS work at $355.2 million, to be funded in the year of execution. The balance is mainly for research and development of the test engine.