Pratt & Whitney announced the delivery of the 1,000th F135 engine for the fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II fighter to the US Department of Defense.
“The 1,000th F135 delivery is a testament to the hard work of thousands of P&W employees and hundreds of suppliers who play a vital role in every engine that comes off the production line,” said Jen Latka, vice president for the F135 program in a statement released on August 31, 2022. “As the only 5th Generation fighter engine in production today, the F135 provides the warfighter with a critical technological advantage.”
Pratt & Whitney is responsible for producing the engines to power all three variants of the F-35 Lightning II aircraft, namely the conventional F135-100 for the F-35A and F-35C, and the F135-600. The first production engine was delivered in 2009.
An ongoing program called the Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) saw the development of two engine demonstrators to replace the F135-100: the Pratt & Whitney XA101 Enhanced Engine Package (EEP), and the General Electric XA100, an adaptive cycle engine. The F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office will select one of the two engines I 2023.
