P & W Shipping First Engine For Testing On New F-35 JSF

Published: Dec 19, 2005
Source: www.courant.com



MIDDLETOWN -- Boxed and wrapped like a precious Christmas gift, the first jet engine that will fly the Pentagon's new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is scheduled to be shipped by Pratt & Whitney this week for installation in a test plane.

Next summer, if all stays on schedule, it will power the F-35's first test flight over Fort Worth, Texas.

When it enters operation in 2012, the Joint Strike Fighter - "joint" because it will be used by three branches of the U.S. armed services - will replace hundreds of aging A-10s and F-16s flown by the Air Force, F-14s and F/A-18s of the Navy and AV-8B Harriers and F/A-18s of the Marine Corps.

It is the first time the three services have cooperated on a common warplane.continue..