Over One Million Flight Hours of Dependable Operations to Date
Pratt & Whitney has delivered the 1,000th production F135 engine for the F-35 Lightning II programme to the US DoD, the company announced on 31 August. US Representative Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, attended the celebration.
“The 1,000th F135 delivery is a testament to the hard work of thousands of P&W employees and hundreds of suppliers who play a vital role in every engine that comes off the production line,” commented Jen Latka, VP for the F135 program. “This milestone underscores the maturity of the F135, which has been proven in the field as the safest, most capable fighter engine in the history of military aviation. As the only 5th-generation fighter engine in production today, the F135 provides the warfighter with a critical technological advantage. We are proud to support our men and women in uniform as a partner on the F-35”.
Since delivering the first production engine in 2009, P&W has invested more than $500 million in capital, process improvements and cost reduction initiatives to support production and reduce average unit cost by over 50%. In addition to Middletown, CT, F135 production sites include P&W’s West Palm Beach, FL facility, and a Final Assembly & Check-Out (FACO) facility operated by IHI in Japan.
Evolved from the F119 engine powering the F-22 Raptor, the F135 delivers a step change in capability over previous generations. This includes 40,000+ pounds of thrust; a substantial increase in thermal management capacity, enabling the full spectrum of F-35 weapons and sensor capabilities; a precise and responsive integrated engine control system, allowing the pilot to focus fully on the mission; and an unmatched low-observable signature, enabling the F-35 to conduct operations in modern anti-access/area denial (A2AD) environments.
From an availability perspective, the F135 has demonstrated a best-in-class safety record, and the current production engine configuration is achieving double the specification for Mean Flight Hours Between Engine Removals (MFHBR). Additionally, the F135 sustainment network is maturing, and engine availability has improved by approximately 75% over the end of 2021.
The F135 also has ample design margin to grow for future F-35 missions. P&W’s proposed block upgrade to the F135, known as the Enhanced Engine Package (EEP), delivers the fastest, most cost-efficient, lowest risk path to fully enabled Block 4 capability for all F-35 operators, while saving taxpayers $40 billion in lifecycle costs, and building on a combat-tested architecture with more than one million flight hours of dependable operations.
“Every one of those 1,000 engines represents safe, affordable, reliable 5th-generation propulsion capability in the hands of our customers,” explained Jill Albertelli, President, Pratt & Whitney Military Engines. “The F135 is the pinnacle of combat propulsion, ensuring our women and men in uniform can complete their missions in the most advanced threat environments and return home safely”.
