- Joined
- Mar 3, 2021
The U.S. military sees planned engine upgrades for all the variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as critical because the Pratt & Whitney F135 engines that power all of the aircraft have been "under spec since the beginning," according to the top officer in charge of the program.
This means the engines have to routinely operate at higher-than-expected temperatures, which has led to costly increased maintenance and logistics requirements and hurt the F-35's overall readiness rates.
The development of the F135, which was derived from the F119 engine that powers the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, dates back to the late 1980s. The original plan was to develop an alternative engine for the F-35 family – the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 – but this was
canceled in 2011 as a cost-cutting measure very late in its development process. With the benefit of hindsight, now including the revelation yesterday that the F135 has been under-specced the entire time, this has increasingly appeared to have been a short-sighted decision.
Gee, Who was in power in 2011!
People don't realize the damage 8 years of the obama administration have done to this country!
This means the engines have to routinely operate at higher-than-expected temperatures, which has led to costly increased maintenance and logistics requirements and hurt the F-35's overall readiness rates.
The development of the F135, which was derived from the F119 engine that powers the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, dates back to the late 1980s. The original plan was to develop an alternative engine for the F-35 family – the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 – but this was
canceled in 2011 as a cost-cutting measure very late in its development process. With the benefit of hindsight, now including the revelation yesterday that the F135 has been under-specced the entire time, this has increasingly appeared to have been a short-sighted decision.
Gee, Who was in power in 2011!
People don't realize the damage 8 years of the obama administration have done to this country!