AircraftNews.Com

In a letter to the editor of  The Peoples Defender Rick Kenny a spokesperson for GE strongly defends the GE Rolls project .

He wrote:

You may have read or seen that the GE Rolls Royce F136 fighter engine for the Joint Strike Fighter is not in President Obama’s defense budget, which is being submitted to Congress. The following is a GE reaction:

The F136 engine for the Joint Strike Fighter is an example of excellence in defense acquisition, staying on schedule and within budget throughout its history, and consistently receiving “exceptional” performance reviews for contract execution from the F-35 Joint Program office.

Most importantly, the F136 brings competition to the F-35 propulsion system, which otherwise will result in a decades-long $100 billion engine monopoly handed to a sole-source provider – with no competitive selection process. Competition is the critical cost-control mechanism for defense procurement.

In the long-term, the investment in the F136 engine will more than pay for itself – as opposed to a monopoly and all of the cost consequences that come with it.

History has shown that competition in aircraft engine programs significantly reduces cost, while improving safety, reliability and contractor responsiveness. The “Great Engine War,” the 20-year battle to power the F-16, demonstrated these exact results with cost savings of at least 20 percent.

Consistent, bipartisan support for an alternative engine in Congress has continued for 14 years. More than $2.5 billion has already been invested in developing the F136 engine–equaling 70 percent of the total development costs needed to bring the engine to production.

Eliminating the F136 program brings into doubt the ability of more than one U.S. engine supplier capable to producing this type of engine.

The benefits of competition have been verified by numerous studies and U.S. military experience, and the long-term benefits are supported by the international partners in the F-35 program.

Thank you,

Rick Kennedy
GE

From:http://www.peoplesdefender.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=3&ArticleID=129591&TM=56074.56