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Shoot me, before the pain returns, because the Great Engine War of Words (GEWW) is revving up again. Next week the Pentagon will release its FY2012 budget request, which likely won't contain money for the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternate engine, and Congress will take up the stalled FY2011 budget, which may or may not end up with money in it for the F136. In a bid to get out ahead, Pratt & Whitney held a media roundtable in Washington today (Feb 10). The first item of news was that Pratt has a "handshake" with the JSF program office on the...

The Pentagon’s top spokesman on Friday said that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates remains determined to eliminate funding for a $3 billion project contracted to GE, as the White House faced questions on the matter the day that President Obama named the company’s CEO to an uncompensated advisory post on economic affairs. Critics of the administration raised questions Friday about the timing of a continuation of funding for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Extra Engine, implying that GE CEO Jeff Immelt may have been named chair of the president’s new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness only after the White...

The US Department of Defense must reluctantly continue paying General Electric and Rolls-Royce to develop the F136 engine through at least 4 March, says Sen Sherrod Brown of Ohio. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has confirmed, says Brown, that a continuing resolution passed earlier this week by Congress includes funding to keep alive the alternate engine for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme. DOD officials still hope to cancel the F136 to save nearly $2 billion in development costs - a cost thwarted by the engines Congressional allies every year since 2006.

Monday, 21 September 2009, 07:38 C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 000568 SIPDIS EO 12958 DECL: 09/17/2019 TAGS MARR, MOPS, NATO, PINS, PREL, NL SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS/JSF: CONCERN ABOUT SECOND ENGINE REF: A. THE HAGUE 271 B. THE HAGUE 264 C. THE HAGUE 543 Classified By: POLECON Counselor Andrew C. Mann for reasons 1.5(b,d) Summary This cable relays concerns from the US embassy in the Hague that unless greater US support is giving to the development of a second engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, it might jeopardise Dutch involvement in the project...

The General Electric-Rolls Royce F136 alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter program looked increasingly vulnerable Dec. 15 when efforts to prolong the controversial program appeared to be losing steam in Congress. In separate but related actions Dec. 14-15, defense lawmakers and their aides said they have worked out a quick compromise to help pass defense authorization legislation for Fiscal 2011, not including an earmark for the engine, while a Senate Democratic appropriations proposal that included F136 language ran into growing conservative opposition. The authorization measure – stripped down after a provision to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy stopped...

General Electric and Rolls-Royce have been granted a two-week breathing space by the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) to continue tests of the endangered F136 Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine. GE-Rolls says the JPO “has enabled us to find a way to stretch the funding” for continued testing of the F136 until Dec. 17, the date earlier indicated as a possible extension by the development team. The change was made possible, the JPO says, by the program execution to date. “The JPO has modified the contract accordingly, and there is no indication that a stop-work order will be issued,” GE-Rolls...

General Electric and Rolls-Royce are fighting a rear-guard action to save the embattled F136 alternate Joint Strike Fighter engine from being canceled by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates as funding threatens to dry up. But even then the program faces challenges on Capitol Hill. The engine program has sufficient funds in place to continue through mid-December, around the same time an emerging continuing resolution (CR) would expire under a congressional deal reached Dec. 1. The short-term extension to the current CR, which expires Dec. 3, would allow the U.S. government to operate at 2010 funding levels until Dec. 18, but...

An important skirmish in the battle over military spending is taking place in this industrial suburb of Cincinnati. At stake is a program to develop an alternate engine for the Joint Strike Fighter, a stealthy, supersonic jet supposed to be the backbone of the U.S. fighter fleet for the next three decades. For the past four years, Congress has funded the development of the second engine against the wishes of the Pentagon, which maintains that only a Pratt & Whitney engine should be funded. View Full Image Reuters Congress could decide within days whether to fund a second engine for...

The continuing debate regarding the merits of an extra engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter surrounds a prime example of the waste that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is trying to eliminate. Support for an extra engine is another case of parochial interests trying to trump efficiency and military readiness. The F-35 second engine was not included in the Defense Department plan during or before my tenure as deputy secretary. Every military service vice chief testified with me to Congress that the second engine was too costly and not needed—or wanted. Regardless, each year funding was still added by Congress,...

Israel’s F-35 engine selection in dispute between rival manufacturers By Stephen Trimble An announced engine selection for Israel's first batch of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters has sparked a new dispute between both rival manufacturers. Pratt & Whitney says the company has received a verbal commitment by Israel to buy the F135 engine to power the first batch of 20 F-35s ordered under a $2.75 agreement signed last week. The General Electric/Rolls-Royce team developing the F136 alternate engine claims the selection process remains ongoing. "We fully anticipate we will have an opportunity to compete with the F136" in Israel, a General...

The second great engine war, in which we are currently embroiled, offers many components of a fabulous story: national security, jet fighters, three great and combative companies, politicians and congressional experts and lobbyists and lots of cash. (So far we don’t have any sex, but a reporter can only hope.) Into that mix boldly strides a former F-16 pilot who just can’t keep his mouth shut while the second engine for the Joint Strike fighter’s fate is still uncertain. Read Robert Newton’s commentary on why he thinks the F-136 is a must have. Single engine fighter pilots have a special...

More Signs of a Future Hollow Force? The Air Force Cuts a Corner by James Jay Carafano, Ph.D. WebMemo #1039 April 18, 2006 | | The budget decisions derived from the Defense Department’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) suggest more and more that the military’s long-term preparedness is in doubt. The QDR is a mandatory assessment of resources, force structure, and programs that the Pentagon provides the President and Congress. It also outlines strategy for addressing issues such as budget and acquisition priorities. A recent Air Force decision to terminate the alternative engine program for its Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) raises...

DOD angers GE, Brits on joint fighter plan WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- A row between General Electric and the Pentagon over the new joint fighter plane will hit Congress next week. International partners working on the Joint Strike Fighter, a next-generation aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps as well as U.S. allies, will weigh in next week on Pentagon plans to freeze domestic giant General Electric Co. and the British firm Rolls-Royce out of lucrative work on the program, Congress Daily reported. Representatives from eight countries will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee March 14...