|
Bush tries again to kill second engine for F-35
2008-02-04
President Bush called on Congress Monday for the third straight year to cancel a multibillion-dollar project to develop a second engine for Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) F-35 fighter jet. The alternate, interchangeable engine, being developed by General Electric Co (GE.N) in partnership with Rolls-Royce Group Plc (RR.L), would vie for orders against one built by Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N), in a projected $100 billion market over coming decades. The F-35 is a family of warplanes for the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, as well as for export, projected to be the costliest military acquisition in history. Current Pentagon plans call for production of 2,458 aircraft in three versions over a 28-year delivery period. An additional 738 aircraft are expected to be ordered by eight co-development partners: Britain, Australia, Italy, Canada, Denmark, Turkey, the Netherlands and Norway. Projected orders from Singapore, Israel and other countries could push the ultimate production beyond 3,200 aircraft. The F-35 is also known as the Joint Strike Fighter. "The (Defense) Department made a decision they're willing to accept the risk" of going with just one engine, given budget pressures and a perceived lack of significant benefits from continued competition, Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Davis, head of the Pentagon's F-35 program office, told Reuters in a telephone interview. For the past two years, the U.S. Congress has rejected Pentagon efforts to kill the second engine on the ground that competition would more than offset development costs. A new battle is likely over the issue in coming months, spurred partly by British support for Rolls-Royce and the jobs it would create in Britain. Rick Kennedy, a spokesman for GE, said a total of about $2.1 billion had been invested so far to develop the second engine, with about $1.1 billion still needed in U.S. funding to deliver a fully competitive unit. "In canceling the program, you deny the Joint Strike Fighter program the fantastic benefits of more than 30 years of head-to-head engine competition after having spent all of this money," he said. "What a waste." Mike Ryan, a retired Marine Corps major general who is a vice president for Rolls-Royce North America, voiced disappointment that the Pentagon "has again decided to go against clear congressional wishes to fund a second engine." Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, a research group known for close ties to the Pentagon and industry, said in a report to be released this week that the benefits of competition on a second engine had been overstated by some in Congress. "When workloads shrink, the potential for economies of scale are reduced," wrote Thompson in a closely argued piece. He told Reuters the Lexington Institute had received funding from donors on both sides of the issue, including "general-purpose" funds from Pratt & Whitney representing a "very small portion of our revenues."
|  | | | Profile |
News1 | Gallery | Links | |
| |
|
|
| 
