Posted on 10/01/2010 12:16:16 AM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
General Electric/Rolls-Royce is investigating manufacturing and assembly data on a single F136 engine after it was damaged during a checkout test on 23 September.
The alternate engine for the Lockheed Martin F-35 was shut down "in a controlled manner" after an unknown anomaly at near maximum fan speed on the test stand damaged the front fan and compressor area, the company says.
The GE/Rolls team is continuing to run two test engines after inspections revealed no signs of "similar distress". Five development engines have run for more than 1,000h since early 2009.
As the cause for the anomaly on the eighth development engine continues to be investigated, US lawmakers are debating whether to insert funding to keep the programme alive against the wishes of the Department of Defense.
Since 2006, the DoD has tried to cancel the F136 alternate engine, arguing that the Pratt & Whitney F135 is sufficient to power the F-35.
But a majority of lawmakers have consistently opposed cancellation. The F136's supporters cite the benefits of competition and the risk of relying on a single engine type
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
Ping
Bug flew into the engine?
This story is nothing but propaganda!
With the amount of money this government wastes, how about more F-22s and we will call it even; Frack the F-35 and its pussy bitchaucrat following. If you want to sell the F-35 as a foreign interim all-about fighter is fine; yet make more advanced F-22s! I realize each version of a plane leads to the next; more advanced F-22s would be hard to match under any condition for the next 20 years; and its here today. Oh, unless the government is looking for its continued failure by not getting them; and just providing “friends of government” some perks for political benefit…why are we messing around with this unproven crap.
Prefer not to talk about it, though.
;-)
I agree, the shutdown of the F-22 is an atrocity indistinguishable from treason.
TANKS,,,
All of this should/have been tested before this,,,
Something is wrong with this pic...
I wonder if they are having a similar problem as our company? First fan rubs during engine tests. We are growing our engine size to its maximum design size.
Bad karma for GE’s alliance with Obama I hope?
“With the amount of money this government wastes, how about more F-22s and we will call it even; Frack the F-35 and its pussy bitchaucrat following. If you want to sell the F-35 as a foreign interim all-about fighter is fine; yet make more advanced F-22s! I realize each version of a plane leads to the next; more advanced F-22s would be hard to match under any condition for the next 20 years”
Yes, the F-22 is head and shoulders above the F-35 as a fighter, and it also has a useful strike capability.
The often ignored factor with restarting F-22 production is that, once approved, exports could generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue for US companies. The rub, of course, is that the F-22 is considered too good and too sensitive to export. How is it we’re exporting the F-35 again? And what was the story with all the F-22 bashing around the time of program cancellation?
Shutting down the F-22 assembly line ranks as one of the most stupid political moves EVER.
“the shutdown of the F-22 is an atrocity indistinguishable from treason.”
Well put!
Show me how have the logisitcal nightmare of double parts in the spares inventory and an engine that may have different hook up locations for externals etc makes sense?
If you want dual source, give the Pratt Plans to GE to make the 119. Dual source, not dual designs makes the most sense to me.
This concept was done as follows:
1.) Pratt built GE 404's from their plans.
2.) Teledyne built Williams F107's from their plans (cruise missile engines).
Something is wrong with this pic...
What? This is testing. The F136 alternate engine for the F-35 hasn't flown yet, it is still in ground testing.
In the late 80’s early 90’s we went through this with GE on the F16 - Pratt provided F100 info, GE to provide F404 info for dual sourcing. Pratt prints allowed GE to build a working engine. The engines built from GE prints wouldn’t turn over. They got a piece of F16 engines buys, but they never sold an engine for the F15’s. So we either spend our money overseas with GE/SNECMA/ROLLS or we buy American.
1) The "hookups" for the F135 and F136 are identical and interchangable by design.
2) The advantage is that when you plan on buying 1000+ of these aircraft, what do you do if there is an engine problem that grounds the entire fleet? With the alternate engine, you only ground one engine type.
Get out the “Bore-sonic” and take a look at these blades!
Boresonic inspection system - Patent 4864862
Boresonic inspection system. United States Patent 4864862 ..... waves generated by phased array transducers available from New York Institute of Technology. ...
www.freepatentsonline.com/4864862.html - Cached - Similar
I waas there!
...to the United States. Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and South Korea do have F-15s powered by F110s.
And in fact the Saudis had so many maintenance headaches with their F100 powered F-15s that they bought F110 engines to replace them.
I’m no friend of GE and I think P-W is the bee’s knees, but single-sourcing a critical element (like the engine) is never a good thing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.