http://www.defensenews.com/articles/pra ... ne-upgradeQuote:
The upgrade, which the company is calling the F135 Growth Option 1.0, could be cut into the existing production line by the early 2020s, said Matthew Bromberg, president of Pratt & Whitney military engines. Pratt manufactures the F135 for all three F-35 models as well as aircraft purchased by international customers.
「It's very attractive to the JSF [joint strike fighter] program for several reasons,」 Bromberg told journalists during a media day in West Palm Beach, Florida. 「It's very common, so we could drop this upgrade into any one of the three variants. It would be compliant with the partner requirements and go to foreign partner countries. It would be cost neutral, so the upgraded JSF motor with Growth Option 1.0 would be the same price as the existing motor.」
...
The new configuration is not funded through current joint strike fighter program of record, but if the F-35 joint program office approves it, the engine could be ready for the second round of upgrades under the Block 4 modernization effort, Bromberg said. The cost of the enhanced engine would be roughly the same as the current F135, but the Pentagon would have to pay for further development and validation of the technology.
My thoughts: An upgrade proposal isn't news, but cost-neutrality and 2020 ETA is interesting for sure. On this timeline, it's quite possible to make the engine upgrades part of Block 4.2 rather than 5.
The article says the upgrade is cost neutral in terms of per-engine cost, but there's nothing about maintenance, supply lines, etc. With upcoming AETP engine work, we're looking at at least three different F-35 engine models in a short period of time - meaning they'll likely be used in parallel. There might be some increased maintenance costs with different things to train and work on, with different spare parts as well. Not sure if these costs would be trivial or substantial. I guess that would have to depend on what's changing - if it's largely changes to materials and manufacturing techniques (like turbine blades or something), then the training differences would be fairly minor - certainly nothing as complex as the two entirely different engine families used on the F-16.
Login
FAQ
Search
