GE Aviation announced with Rolls Royce on Friday the discontinuation of a program to develop an alternative engine for the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35 or in GE's development the F136 engine). The entire JSF program is very behind schedule and very over budget. Both The Atlantic and Aviation Week have suggested there is little alternative other than termination or full buildout for a program estimated to cost $1 trillion. GE, with a turbine-making plant in Rutland, Vermont, had been squeezed out of the development for the engine, but had forged ahead with its own plans in hopes that the Pentagon would opt for a better solution to the engine now receiving federal funding.
Vermont also is on a short-list of possible bases for the F-35 when and if it is ever built and deployed, as the Vermont Air Guard base at Burlington International Airport is under consideration to replace its F-16s with a more modern and stealthy weapon system.
Vermont Senator Leahy issued a terse statement following GE's announcement. In it he denounced the Pentagon's handling of the entire program:
"While I am deeply disappointed by the decision by GE Aviation and Rolls Royce to terminate their self-funding of the F136 alternate engine program for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, I understand why they made that choice. The F-35 program has performed miserably with delays and cost overruns becoming the rule rather than the exception. In fact if the Pentagon had diversified its fighter portfolio instead of putting all of our eggs in just one basket, the F-35 program probably would have been declared a failure and terminated this year. Given how long it will take to produce and deploy Joint Strike Fighters and the likely shrinking number of jets the program will yield, the business case no longer gives GE Aviation and Rolls Royce a good reason to self-fund further engine development out of pocket. Without a doubt, this decision ‘ by eliminating engine competition ‘ will mean further cost overruns to the overall program and more taxpayer dollars for a less-capable fighter.
"Whether or not the F-35 ever gets off the ground, the program has performed poorly and extends the Pentagon’s decades-long record of acquisition program failures. I will work with others on the Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee to find ways that Congress can help the Pentagon restrain its skyrocketing costs and dismal record of program cancellations. For the sake of our troops and taxpayers, the Defense Department needs to completely revamp the culture and strategy of its acquisition corps ‘ reforms that will no doubt will require congressional insistence and direction to accomplish.’
GE/Rolls-Royce Joint Press Statement:
The GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team (FET) has reached the decision to discontinue self-funded development of the F136 engine for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) beyond 2011.
The decision, reached jointly by GE and Rolls-Royce leadership, recognizes the continued uncertainty in the development and production schedules for the JSF Program.
"GE and Rolls-Royce are proud of our technology advancements and accomplishments on the F136," said Dan McCormick, President of the FET. "However, difficult circumstances are converging that impact the potential benefit of a self-funded development effort."
With the F136 engine development almost 80 percent complete, the Department of Defense terminated the program in April of this year. Following termination, the GE Rolls-Royce FET had offered to self-fund F136 development through fiscal year 2012, but will now end its development work. The FET will continue to fulfill its termination responsibilities with the federal government.
For 15 years, the FET has developed a competitive fighter engine for JSF with the world's most advanced propulsion technologies, including numerous patented technologies from both companies.
Before the program was terminated, six F136 development engines had accumulated more than 1,200 hours of testing since early 2009. The FET consistently delivered on cost and on schedule, and was rewarded with high marks by the Department of Defense in a successful joint venture between GE and Rolls-Royce.
Throughout the F136 program, GE and Rolls-Royce have been leading advocates of defense acquisition reform - offering unique and aggressive fixed-price proposals for F136 production engines for the JSF program.
"GE and Rolls-Royce are deeply grateful to our many Congressional supporters on both sides of the aisle over these many years as well as the military experts who have supported competing engines for JSF," said McCormick. "We do not waver in our belief that competition is central to meaningful defense acquisition reform."
December 2, 2011