The Air Force on Monday greatly expanded funding for the prototype engine for the service’s planned sixth-generation fighter.
General Electric of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Pratt & Whitney Engines of East Hartford, Connecticut, each received modifications to their initial Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion, or NGAP, contracts that bring the maximum amount for the prototype phase up to $3.5 billion apiece. That is more than three times higher than the $975 million ceiling on the original contracts awarded in 2022.
NGAP is expected to be the propulsion system for the planned Next Generation Air Dominance fighter. GE and Pratt are designing so-called “adaptive” engines, which shift to the most efficient thrust configuration for whatever situation a jet is in, to power NGAD.
The Pentagon seriously considered upgrading the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter with adaptive engines. But their cost and limited ability to fit all models of the F-35 led the Pentagon to instead upgrade the F-35′s current engines.
The progress made on adaptive engines is now feeding into the NGAP program. And even as the Air Force reconsiders its approach to NGAD and air dominance, the contract modification signals the service wants to keep work moving on the new engines.
The Pentagon said this contract award will help deliver “a state-of-the-art propulsion system with a flexible architecture that can be tailored for future combat aircraft operating across various mission threads, and digitally transforming the propulsion industrial base.” The Pentagon expects the work to be done by July 2032.
Chris Calio, president and chief executive of Pratt’s parent company, RTX, said the additional funding will help the company continue driving down the risks on its adaptive engine, dubbed “XA103.”
“We’ve gone through rigorous testing over the last few years,” Calio said in an earnings call with investors Tuesday. “We’ve been really pleased with the results there.”
Pratt & Whitney said in February 2024 that the XA103 had finished a key design review with the Air Force and was on its way to ground testing in the late 2020s.
GE said in May 2024 that its NGAP engine, the XA102, finished a major design review in December 2023 and was moving towards a prototype engine test.
The Air Force has pushed for years to develop NGAD – envisioned as a “family of systems” including a sixth-generation crewed fighter, as well as drone wingmen known as collaborative combat aircraft and other advanced systems and weapons – to modernize its fleet and replace the F-22.
The program is suffering from major sticker shock, however, with initial cost estimates coming in at three times as much as an F-35, or between $250 million and $300 million. The Air Force balked and put NGAD on hold in summer 2024 as it reconsidered what the best and most cost-effective way to maintain air dominance might be.
After Trump was reelected, the Air Force’s previous leadership decided it would be more appropriate to let the new administration decide its path forward.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
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