Pratt & Whitney awarded $1.3bn F135 engine core upgrade contract
October 1, 2024
RTX company Pratt & Whitney has been awarded a contract worth up to $1.3 billion to continue work on the F135 Engine Core Upgrade (ECU), intended to deliver enhanced durability to the powerplant.
A preliminary ECU design review for the F135 afterburning turbofan – which powers all three variants of the Lockheed Martin F-35 – was completed in June 2024, signifying the alignment between the engine manufacturer and the F-35 Joint Program Office on the upgrade’s design. As well as promising enhanced durability, “the ECU also provides power and cooling for Block 4 and beyond capabilities,” explained Pratt & Whitney.
Technology from “multiple development programmes” will be integrated into the ECU, explained Chris Johnson, vice president of Pratt & Whitney’s F135 programme. The F135 ECU – the only ‘drop-in’ propulsion modernisation system available to the F-35 – will be incorporated into the aircraft during production or retrofitted at one of the “multiple F135 depot sustainment facilities around the world”.
Rather than incorporate a new engine altogether (with a powerplant developed through the Air Force’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program), the US Department of Defense instead outlined its decision to upgrade the existing F135; deeming it to be the most efficient and cost-effective strategy. This was outlined in its Fiscal Year 2024 budget request. “When the department looked at this overall and looked at the alternatives, the right decision for the department was to go with ECU,” secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall told the House Armed Services Committee during the budget request hearing in April 2023.
“The JPO-led BCA determined that the F135 Engine Core Upgrade will restore engine life and prevent degradation for all three F-35 variants and partner nations at the lowest cost,” continued the written statement to the SASC Air and Subcommittee Hearing.
The US Department of Defense had formally selected the F135 ECU as the only viable solution, noting that Pratt & Whitney alone “has the experience, special skills, proprietary technical documentation, software/algorithms, and technical expertise required to furnish the supplies and services”.
In February 2024, Pratt & Whitney vice president for the F135 programme told Breaking Defense that “ECU deliveries are expected in early 2029 with the possibility of accelerating the schedule to allow for deliveries to begin in late 2028, with additional contract work extending as needed”.
