Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

January 31, 2025

New Pentagon contract triples funding, to $3.5B, for Pratt engine program

COSTAR Pratt & Whitney’s East Hartford headquarters at 400 Main St.

The Air Force has increased funding for Pratt & Whitney’s prototype engine for the next generation fighter jet program.

Pratt is developing the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion, or NGAP, technology alongside a competing engine from GE. Both will be available for the military’s sixth-generation fighter jet program currently known as Next Generation Air Dominance.

In a 2022 contract, the Air Force had capped funding for the program at $975 million for each contractor.

But this week it issued contract modifications that expand funding for the prototype phase to $3.5 billion, more than three times the original allocation.

The contract award also excludes several other defense contractors that were previously bidding to develop the engine, leaving just Pratt and GE in the running.

Chris Calio, the CEO of Pratt’s parent company RTX, this week addressed the program in a call with investors.

“We’ve gone through rigorous testing over the last few years,” Calio said. “We’ve been really pleased with the results.”

Work on the prototype is being carried out in East Hartford.

Pratt has previously said it is aiming to be ready for ground testing of the engines by the late 2020s, and the contract specifies that work is expected to be complete by July 13, 2032.
 

Sign up for Enews

0 Comments

Order a PDF