The General Electric-Rolls Royce team developing the alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has just finished a three-month-long preliminary design review—earning a “green light” to proceed to the next step, the Critical Design Review slated for late next year, says team president Jean Lydon-Rodgers. The program is on life support after Congress overruled the Pentagon’s cancellation plan and restored funding for the F136 engine in the Fiscal 2007 defense bill. Lydon-Rodgers says the F136 program is “on budget and on schedule” to provide the first production F136 in 2012. However, lawmakers also gave the Pentagon leeway to prove it can sustain the JSF with only one engine maker when it provides Congress with three independent cost analyses, which are due March 15.
Now Is the Time to Boost CCA Investment
June 3, 2026
The Air Force wants about $1 billion to move Collaborative Combat Aircraft into production in fiscal 2027 and accelerate the introduction of this game-changing technology. Congress should support that objective.