Blair said to fail to win over Bush on F-35 engine

Published: Jan 21, 2006
Source: today.reuters.co.uk



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair has failed to get U.S. President George W. Bush to save a multibillion-dollar engine-development contract for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the world's costliest warplane project, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The idea had been to offer a choice of engines for the first F-35s — which are being built in three versions to replace a wide range of other U.S. and foreign fighters.

One engine is by Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies unit, while the other is being developed under a $2.4 billion Pentagon contract by General Electric of the U.S. and Rolls-Royce of Britain.

Blair left a videoconference with Bush this week "empty-handed" after a review of a Pentagon plan to kill the engine being built by GE and Rolls-Royce Plc, said Loren Thompson, a consultant with close ties to defense contractors and the Pentagon.continue..