Warner To Pentagon: Rethink JSF Alternate Engine

Published: Feb 07, 2007
Source: Aviation Week



Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) urged the Defense Department on Feb. 6 to reconsider plans to drop the alternate engine program from F-35 Joint Strike Fighter production.

"If we have but a single engine then we're, in effect, giving a sole source contract to one contractor, which could amount to $100 billion. I've calculated that out," Warner told Pentagon Comptroller Tina Jonas during a Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) hearing on the $481.4 billion fiscal 2008 defense budget request.

Jonas said the '08 budget did not contain funds for the second engine and that the Pentagon believes it could save "about $1.8 billion" without the program.

While SASC chairman last year, Warner led a successful fight to restore the General Electric and Rolls-Royce F136 jet engine as an alternate to Pratt & Whitney's F135 for the JSF (DAILY, July 24, 2006).

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