By Marina Malenic
General Electric [GE] will self-fund development work on a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter despite a stop-work order issued by the Defense Department yesterday, the company said.
The Pentagon issued a stop-work order to GE and industry partner Rolls-Royce [RR], calling their F136 engine “a waste of taxpayer money that can be used to fund higher departmental priorities.” President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have been singling out the program as an example of “government waste” ever since Obama took office.
“We will, consistent with the stop-work directive, self-fund the F136 program through this 90-day period,” GE spokesman Rick Kennedy said yesterday.
Kennedy declined to specify the cost to the company for keeping the program alive for the time being. He noted that the F136 is “meeting or exceeding” key performance parameters and is “nearly complete.”
By contrast, the primary engine built by Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies [UTX], has experienced over $3.4 billion in cost overruns, according to government auditors. Pratt & Whitney officials have said the recent restructure of the F-35 program could add another $1 billion to their F135 engine’s development cost (Defense Daily, Feb. 14).
The Pentagon has been trying to end the F136 development effort for the past five years. Congress, however, has repeatedly added money for it to the budget.
The stop-work order does not terminate the program, according to a Pentagon spokesman, and lawmakers could still continue it by introducing amendments during a floor vote or in a House-Senate conference to produce a final bill.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard McKeon (R-Calif.) criticized the Pentagon’s move, noting that the F136 program is resourced under the continuing resolution funding the government through April 8.
“The views of the President and Secretary Gates are well known on this topic, but those opinions–however strong–are not the law,” McKeon said in a press statement. “The Secretary should follow current law and not pre-empt the congressional deliberation process by yanking funding after a single amendment vote.”
He added that the administration’s decision is “especially troubling” given that government auditors have said it would cost 445 percent more than expected to finish F135 development.
McKeon said he plans to look into “all legislative options” that would keep the F136 program alive.