The General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternative engine for the F-35 JSF requires a minor redesign of a diffuser which directs air into the engine combustor. The redesign became necessary after an investigation into why a nut broke off during testing last month and damaged a test engine.
A GE spokesman told Reuters that the redesign should see the engine back “up and running by the end of the year,” and that the engine’s combustor was performing as expected.
The F136 engine narrowly avoided being cancelled again this year for the third year running after Senate and House appropriators found additional funding to keep it alive, despite a threat from the White House to cancel it. The P&W F135 engine, a development of the F-22 Raptor’s F119, is already flying in three F-35 development aircraft.
