The General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternative engine for the F-35 JSF requires a minor redesign of a diffuser which directs air into the engine combustor. The redesign became necessary after an investigation into why a nut broke off during testing last month and damaged a test engine.
A GE spokesman told Reuters that the redesign should see the engine back “up and running by the end of the year,” and that the engine’s combustor was performing as expected.
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The F136 engine narrowly avoided being cancelled again this year for the third year running after Senate and House appropriators found additional funding to keep it alive, despite a threat from the White House to cancel it. The P&W F135 engine, a development of the F-22 Raptor’s F119, is already flying in three F-35 development aircraft.