F136: Fighting On

Jeff Immelt, General Electric's chief operating executive, said today that despite the Pentagon decision to stop work on the GE-built Joint Strike Fighter alternate engine program, the industrial giant will “keep the core technical team together” by financing near-term work out of pocket, and work with lawmakers to restore funding in the Defense Department's 2012 budget.

On March 25, the Defense Department issued a 90-day stop-work order for the F136 program, a first move in implementing Defense Secretary Robert Gates' goal of terminating the project, which he views as an example of wasteful military spending. With nearly $3 billion spent to develop the F136 engine, estimates for the amount saved by halting the program range from $1.8 billion and $2.9 billion.

Immelt, in an e-mail to GE colleagues today, wrote:

I want to update you on the status of our F136 engine for the Joint Strike Fighter because many of you have supported our company on this issue. I am grateful to you for this support and to the GE Aviation team for their efforts under difficult circumstances to develop the engine and to champion the cause of defense acquisition reform.

The 2011 U.S. federal budget does not include funds to finish the F136, despite the fact that our engine is 80 percent complete. I can assure you we are not giving up.  We will fight to bring competition to the 2012 budget debate. Especially in a time of unprecedented deficits, we do not believe the government should forfeit the extraordinary savings (forecast at $20 billion by the U.S. Government Accountability Office) – not to mention the meaningful acquisition reform - that competing engines ensures.

During the recent “stop work” period imposed by the Secretary of Defense, GE and Rolls-Royce have self-funded F136 design work. Meanwhile, Congressional champions for acquisition reform from both parties are strongly encouraging us to continue the fight for the engine. I believe so strongly in our engine and the need for competition in defense procurement that we are discussing with our supporters in Congress how GE can help fund some of the remaining F136 development costs.

We also believe in greater contractor accountability by shifting cost overrun risk from taxpayers to contractors. As you know, we have been driving meaningful defense acquisition reform for years, including innovative "fixed-price" proposals for early-production F136 engines.

Our Congressional supporters recognize that eliminating our engine will saddle taxpayers with a $100 billion JSF engine monopoly. A monopoly for the largest defense program in the U.S. budget is bad policy. We believe that common sense will prevail and will preserve the $3 billion already invested in the F136.

I know that we will deliver the best engine for the JSF program.  Called a “near model program” by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, the F136 engine has been on or ahead of schedule, while meeting or exceeding performance targets. With the development program nearly complete, we have no intention of abandoning this engine after more than a decade of outstanding work for taxpayers and our military. We will keep the core technical team together as we continue the fight and reassign the other highly skilled employees of the F136 team to other Aviation programs.

I am very proud of these GE employees. They are part of the world’s best aviation team.