A Boeing rendering of a next-gen fighter. (Boeing photo)
WASHINGTON — The US Air Force is moving ahead with development of a next-gen fighter engine following awards to manufacturers GE Aerospace and RTX subsidiary Pratt & Whitney, according to contracts announced by the service Monday evening.
The awards, issued under the service’s Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) program, raise the total potential value of contracts previously issued to both companies from $975 million to a new ceiling of $3.5 billion each. No funds are being issued at the time of the announcement, the contract notice says, and work is planned to wrap up in July 2032.
The NGAP program is expected to produce the engine that will power the service’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, though the effort to field the sixth-gen jet is currently paused pending a decision on the way forward by the Trump administration. GE and Pratt are expected to fabricate full-up engine prototypes as part of the NGAP competition, where current plans call for eventually eliminating one of the vendors from the running.
A representative for GE did not respond to a request for comment by press time. A Pratt spokesperson told Breaking Defense today that the company “is working closely with the U.S. Air Force to execute on and meet NGAP program commitments. Our program remains on track for major milestones and we look forward to delivering for our customer.”
According to fiscal 2025 budget documents released last year [PDF], the Air Force plans to spend about $1.3 billion through FY27 to complete development of the NGAP engine, with following work likely aimed at further assessments and readying the engine for production. The program draws from efforts by both companies under the Air Force’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP), which developed prototype engines for the F-35. The Air Force axed the AETP program in 2023. By delivering better performance for features like thrust and fuel efficiency, the “adaptive” engine technologies underlying both the NGAP and AETP efforts could herald a revolutionary leap in propulsion, officials have said.
It’s not clear exactly where the two companies are in the development process. During an earnings call in October, GE CEO Larry Culp said the company was “nearing completion of the detailed design” for the firm’s NGAP offering, known as the XA102. And in February 2024, Pratt announced that its NGAP offering, dubbed the XA103, completed a “critical assessment” that “move[s] the program closer to completing its detailed design review.” The FY25 budget documents say that detailed design will be followed by “engine fabrication,” meaning both vendors could soon fashion their physical engine prototypes.
The exquisite NGAP powerplant has been identified by former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall as a potential source of cost savings for the NGAD fighter, whose projected price of several hundred million dollars per copy could prove prohibitive. Among other changes that could be made to the fighter, reducing the complexity of its engine could be one option to make the aircraft more affordable, Kendall said.
Internal Air Force analysis recently validated the requirement for a manned, sixth-gen fighter, Breaking Defense previously reported. And remaining budget concerns could be ameliorated by a potential surge in defense spending championed by top Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The NGAP contracts were issued amid what could be a total freeze on awards by the Army. As of Tuesday morning, an Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense that the service’s contract awards are continuing.
