At a Monday briefing here, the head of Pratt's F135 program, Mark Buongiorno, told reporters the company didn't want to release the information because the Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) program's engines were being tested for dimensions that matched those of the F-35. A more fuel-efficient AETD engine could overcome one of the longstanding concerns about the F-35 in an era of ever deeper anti-access/area denial defenses, its relatively short unrefueled range of a bit more than 600 nautical miles.
Then General Electric put out a release late yesterday about testing for its Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT) project, which achieved the highest combined compressor and turbine temperature operation "in the history of jet engine propulsion."
That release included this sentence: "It is now being applied to the next step an engine that could fit an F-35-like aircraft."
You could almost hear the pin drop. Years after former Defense Secretary Bob Gates pushed hard to kill the so-called second engine program GE's F136 it looks as if GE may be poised to come back with what could be either a second engine for the F-35, a replacement for Pratt's F135, or the next-generation power plant.
The new engine can adapt for either maximum thrust to outrun an enemy anti-aircraft missile, for example or long-range cruise say, to penetrate deeply and stealthily into an enemy air-defense zone.
http://breakingdefense.com/2015/06/ge-sets-aetd-record/
Then General Electric put out a release late yesterday about testing for its Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT) project, which achieved the highest combined compressor and turbine temperature operation "in the history of jet engine propulsion."
That release included this sentence: "It is now being applied to the next step an engine that could fit an F-35-like aircraft."
You could almost hear the pin drop. Years after former Defense Secretary Bob Gates pushed hard to kill the so-called second engine program GE's F136 it looks as if GE may be poised to come back with what could be either a second engine for the F-35, a replacement for Pratt's F135, or the next-generation power plant.
The new engine can adapt for either maximum thrust to outrun an enemy anti-aircraft missile, for example or long-range cruise say, to penetrate deeply and stealthily into an enemy air-defense zone.
http://breakingdefense.com/2015/06/ge-sets-aetd-record/
