Funds for contract could boost Lynn GE

LYNN – GE executives and union leaders say a recommendation by the Senate Armed Services Committee that funding be continued for two different jet engines for the F-35 “Lighting” Joint Strike Fighter could boost production in Lynn.The committee, backed by member Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, supports the ongoing parallel program in which Pratt & Whitney builds one version of the engine while GE produces another.The next-generation Joint Strike Fighter is a combat aircraft that will be used by all military services to provide battlefield uniformity.Kennedy’s backing has proved critical for GE and its workers, said Jeff Crosby, president of IUE-CWA Local 201 in Lynn. “The senator went to bat for us once again,” he said. “He understands the argument in favor of producing two engine models. The competition will ensure a better engine in the long run.”The Senate Armed Service Committee’s recommendation Friday that the project receive $435 million in the 2008-2009 budget marked the third consecutive year in which a similar scenario was played out. Those who believe a spare engine model is unnecessary have accused Kennedy of pork barrel politics.The Pentagon initially requested in 1995 that an alternate engine be built for the fighter, mostly because competition would prove cost-effective. Pratt & Whitney, a division of Connecticut-based United Technologies, was awarded the primary engine contract. The other engine work was awarded to Ohio-based GE and its partner, Rolls Royce’s corporate division in Indiana. Lockheed Martin was chosen to build the plane.The thinking changed in 2005 when the Air Force determined it could not justify the parallel engine project. By then, more than $2.5 billion had been spent, and cost estimates were moving toward $9 billion.Kennedy was criticized in Congress for keeping the project – namely the GE portion of it – alive.”Senator Kennedy understood the legitimate public policy argument for the engine,” said Crosby. “There is compelling evidence supported by several government studies that having two power plant manufacturers competing for such a huge application would, over time, provide a better engine and reduce costs. In fact, that’s the argument that Pratt and Whitney made against GE during the ‘Great Engine Wars’ of the 1980s to get a share of the F404 and F414 engines.”GE builds several combat aircraft engines, including the T700 for the Apache attack helicopter, and the Blackhawk, Seahawk and Jayhawk helicopters that are used by the Army, Navy and Coast Guard, respectively, for moving cargo and troops. The company also makes the GE38 engine that powers the military’s super-sized CH53 cargo helicopter.The GE F414 engine powers the Navy’s F-18E/F Super Hornet, a fighter based aboard aircraft carriers.”This is good news because it marks an important step in the process of getting funding restored for the F136,” said Richard Gorham, a spokesman for GE in Lynn, referring to the GE version of the Joint Strike Fighter engine. “We’re quite a way down the curve in terms of design and testing, and we’re on schedule.”Gorham said GE has been publicly appreciative of Kennedy’s ongoing support. “Lynn will play some role in the development phase, and it’s our anticipation and expectation that when this engine goes into production, Lynn will be part of that as well,” he said.According to Gorham, GE no longer manufactures an entire aircraft engine in one location. “Our engines are produced by a modular design. There are certain centers of excellence that do things specifically for all the engines,” he said.The recommended $435 million for research and development also includes a requirement that the Navy take steps to provide adequate fighter capacity between the end of the production of the current F414 engine, which powers the Super Hornet, and the advanced Joint Strike Fighter, which is not scheduled for production for several years.”This may mean additional orders for the F414, which is assembled in Lynn,” Crosby s