USAF & Guard generals on JSF engine competition

In our recent video with John Lehman – Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987 — he warned that not having an engine competition for the new Joint Strike Fighter risks a repeat of the disastrous outcomes of the initial F-14 and F-15 programs. Now, retired generals with years of direct experience are also making the case for continued engine competition between the GE-Rolls Royce F136 engine and the one being built by Pratt & Whitney. In the first video clip below, General Gregory S. Martin, who has more than 4,600 flying hours in various aircraft, explains how costs are dramatically driven down in head-to-head competitions. General Martin is a retired Commander of the Air Force Material Command and a former Commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Allied Air Forces Northern Europe. He now consults for the aerospace industry, including GE Aviation.

Likewise, General Paul V. Hester draws on his experiences from “The Great Engine War” of the ‘80s and ’90s to underscore the impact that direct competition can have on lowering costs. At the time, problems developed from a sole-sourced Pratt & Whitney engine being used to power the F-15. The military eventually called for a second engine to be developed, resulting in GE producing what later became the dominant engine of the entire F-16 fleet. General Hester is a retired Commander of the Pacific Air Forces where he had responsibility for Air Force activities spread over half the globe. He currently consults for the aerospace industry, including GE Aviation.

Striking a similar chord, General William R. Looney III, a retired Commander of Air Education and Training Command, also cites his experiences with the “The Great Engine War” in pointing out how competition creates necessary incentives to lower costs and increase quality. General Looney has more than 4,000 flying hours as a command pilot, including 2,500 in the F-15. He currently consults for the aerospace industry, including GE Aviation.

Other videos, including one with General David A. Brubaker, former Deputy Director of the Air National Guard and an operational test pilot with more than 2,500 flying hours, can be found at http://www.youtube.com/f136. The site also contains more comments by the generals as well as their individual biographies.

Meanwhile, the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team just announced that the fourth F136 engine to test in 2010 is in final assembly and will begin running within a few weeks. It will begin flight testing next year in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Three test engines have already been successfully tested this year, meeting or exceeding all test requirements. Two new engines are also in assembly, with one to begin testing later in the summer and another within a few months. That will make a total of six F136 engines in test in 2010, with the program on schedule to complete 1,000 hours of testing this year.

Big numbers: The JSF will replace the AV-8B Harrier, A-10, F-16, F/A-18 Hornet and the United Kingdom’s Harrier GR.7 and Sea Harrier, all of which are currently powered by GE or Rolls-Royce making them the engine powers of choice for the U.S. and U.K. militaries. Potential F-35 production for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marines and international customers, including the UK Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, may reach as many as 5,000 to 6,000 aircraft over the next 30 years. About 900 engineers and technicians are engaged in the F136 program at GE Aviation’s Cincinnati, Ohio, headquarters, and at Rolls-Royce facilities in Indianapolis, Indiana; and Bristol, England.

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “Lehman: No JSF competition is ‘Alice in Wonderland’”
* “GE and the Joint Strike Fighter: Facts vs. Myths Part 2”
* “GE and the Joint Strike Fighter: Facts vs. myths”
* “Fixed price offer will slash Joint Strike Fighter costs”
* “GE & the Joint Strike Fighter: Let the best engine win”
* “Gen. Hough: JSF engine competition ‘never happened’”
* “House backs Joint Strike Fighter engine competition”