Pentagon’s report pro-GE engine project

LYNN – The pending release of a report from an advisory panel hand-picked by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates could bring good news to GE workers in Lynn because it recommends the Pentagon purchase an alternative engine for the Joint Strike Fighter.Gates and U.S. President Barack Obama until now have been vociferous opponents of a second-source engine maker, arguing that Connecticut-based Pratt & Whitney Co. alone should handle the jet engine contract. Rival GE, in partnership with Rolls Royce, has countered that demand for the engine is increasing and competition would keep costs in check.The 20-member blue-ribbon advisory panel, which includes 12 members appointed by Gates, supports dual-source competition for the engine that will power the advanced-technology warplane, otherwise known as the F-35 Lightning II.According to Kathryn Prael, spokesman for U.S. Rep. John F. Tierney, a Salem Democrat, the report advises that Gates “return to a strategy requiring dual-source competition for production programs in circumstances where this will produce real competition.”Tierney, a long-standing advocate of GE’s F136 alternate engine development program, was encouraged by the report. Pratt & Whitney already has begun test flights using its version of the engine, the F135.”Competition is essential to defense contracting. It helps keep costs under control, ensures better performance, spurs innovation, and holds contractors accountable,” Tierney said. “Moreover, competition is required by law, and history evidenced how it has been successful.”The congressman noted that the non-partisan Government Accounting Office found a 21-percent overall cost savings for the F-16 fighter plane due to competition in the 1980s.”The importance of maintaining the defense industrial base and the fine work being done on the F136 engine cannot be overstated,” Tierney said. “This program is expected to save substantial long-term costs and guard against a national security risk of fleet grounding if a sole-sourced engine had difficulties.”Tierney joined GE union workers in Washington, D.C. earlier this week to rally support for the engine manufacturer and any jobs the Joint Strike Fighter contract might create in Lynn.The Joint Strike Fighter will replace the U.S. military’s F-18 Super Hornet fighter plane and other current combat aircraft. It will be used in various versions by the Air Force, Navy and Marines but offer battlefield interchangeability of many parts.The awaited report states that during the 1980s, the Air Force and Navy chose to include second sources for munitions, including the Sidewinder, Sparrow, Maverick, Standard, Tomahawk and Harm missles, according to InsideDefense.com.