Pratt & Whitney has a new U.S. Dept. of Defense contract for sustainment services on the turbofan engines powering the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 fighter jets. The three-year award is valued at up to $1.5 billion, and covers a range of maintenance and repair services necessary to “improve readiness and reduce costs for an F119 fleet of more than 400 engines that have flown over 900,000 engine flight hours,” according to defense contractor.
The F119 is an afterburning turbofan engine developed by Pratt & Whitney for the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, a twin-engine, supersonic aircraft with stealth capability introduced 20 years ago as the successor to the F-15. It is a predecessor to the F135 engine that Pratt developed and supplies for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and for which it also provides an extensive range of sustainment services.
More than 500 F119s have been manufactured to date, to provide more than 35,000 pounds of thrust and achieve altitudes above 65,000 feet while achieving and maintaining supersonic speeds without afterburners.
Pratt & Whitney reported it has lowered costs for F119 engines by implementing “Usage Based Lifing” (UBL), a real-time data collection and evaluation program that promotes maintenance efficiency to extend engine life, while improving performance with an engine control schedule update.
According to P&W, the new sustainment contract will continue these readiness and cost savings efforts while focusing on “safety, availability, simplicity of maintenance, and modernization initiatives.”
"The F119's readiness and reliability rates have never been more important, and we are improving both while lowering lifecycle costs," stated Jill Albertelli, president of Military Engines at Pratt & Whitney. "We are committed to helping our U.S. Air Force customer maintain the F-22's combat edge."
