F-35 Lightning II fighters will retain F135 engines unless something catastrophic happens

Lockheed Martin CEO Greg Ulmer sparked a wave of discussion and outrage from Pratt & Whitney last week. The reason was that he said the F-35 should be equipped with an adaptive engine. But the authorities are not burning with that desire.

Here's What We Know

To begin with, let us recall that the fifth generation fighters F-35A, F-35B and F-35C are equipped with the F135 power plant, manufactured by Pratt & Whitney. The head of Lockheed Martin believes that the aircraft should be equipped with an adaptive engine for Block 4 upgrades and future upgrades.

At the same time, the new propulsion system is being built for the sixth-generation fighter and is not compatible with the F-35B. So Pratt & Whitney wants to carry out an upgrade of the F135 called the Core Engine Upgrade (ECU). Greg Ulmer believes that the F-35A and F-35C aircraft should then be fitted with an adaptive engine and the F-35B should use the F135 ECU.

This week, the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense (HAC-D) also commented on the dispute between Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney. Ken Calvert stated that the appropriations bill clearly states that the authorities will not change the F135 unless something catastrophic happens. And at the moment there is no suggestion that anything could go wrong.

The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) also insists that the F135 ECU should be upgraded. The JPO believes this will be enough to meet the F-35's future power requirements.

Source: Breaking Defense