The U.S. Air Force has awarded five companies positions on a potential 10-year, $975 million contract to perform technology maturation and risk reduction work under a program that seeks to build prototypes of an adaptive engine for next-generation fighter aircraft.
The awardees are General Electric’s (NYSE: GE) Edison Works business, Raytheon Technologies’ (NYSE: RTX) Pratt & Whitney subsidiary; Boeing (NYSE: BA), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) as part of the prototyping phase of the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program.
The contractors will perform design, rig testing, analysis, weapon system integration and prototype engine testing under the NGAP indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract.
Work will occur at vendors’ respective facilities in Ohio, Connecticut, Missouri and California through July 11, 2032.
John Sneden, director of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s propulsion directorate, said the engine that will power the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter jet will come from the NGAP program, according to a report by Air Force Magazine.
“On the NGAD side, [we’re] kind of looking at how do we provide options for just generally speaking the next generation of air dominance?” Sneden said. “That is what the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program is out there to do, is actually look at how do we provide that next-generation propulsion capability?”
