If the Air Force and Pentagon decide the F-35 fighter needs an all-new engine, it wouldn’t just give the jet range and performance improvements—it would drive a refresh of the entire fighter propulsion industrial base, a GE Aerospace official claimed Feb. 16. Competitor Pratt & ...
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 ...
In 1941, Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold of the then-U.S. Army Air Corps, personally reviewed a jet engine patented by Sir Frank Whittle flying on a Gloster E.28/39 aircraft. Impressed by its design, Arnold arranged for a Whittle engine to be brought back to the ...
“We hear a clear call from the Air Force to ‘accelerate change.’ Competition is a great way to do it,” says Gen. Frank Gorenc (Ret.). “We have an opportunity in the near-term to introduce competition through a new engine for the world’s most advanced fighter, ...
Modifications Pratt & Whitney is proposing to its F135 engine can improve thrust and efficiency and would be far less costly than giving the F-35 fighter a new powerplant developed through the Adaptive Engine Transition Program, the engine maker said.
“The adversary isn't going to take a knee if we take our time,” says Angelella. “That's why it's so important to go fast and stay ahead.”