'Pentagon to kill F-35 back-up engine'

Source URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/latest_full_story.php?content_id=113041
Posted at: http://www.air-attack/com/news/news_article/912

WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 30 : The Pentagon has decided to kill a planned back-up engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the most expensive U.S. warplane program ever, in a boost to United Technologies Corp. and a blow to rivals, a well-placed defense consultant said on Thursday.

The decision could mean tens of billion of dollars in extra sales over 25 years for Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies unit, said consultant Loren Thompson, chief executive of the nonpartisan, Virginia-based research group the Lexington Institute.

The plan, subject to approval by the White House budget office and the U.S. Congress, would be a setback for General Electric Co. (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Rolls-Royce Plc (RR.L: Quote, Profile, Research), which have been developing a separate but interchangeable engine.

"They have killed the alternative engine," said Thompson, who has close ties to the Pentagon and industry.

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