Pratt & Whitney has just completed 8,000 ground test hours with the F135 engine, the primary powerplant destined for the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Coupled with earlier testing during the fighter’s concept demonstration program, the F135 now has more than 11,000 test hours, which company F-135 engine VP Bill Gostic says demonstrates the engine’s “maturity, flexibility, and reliability.” In other engine news, P&W has received a $1.05 billion from the Air Force for new deliveries of F117 engines for C-17 airlifters, with deliveries running through 2012. The Air Force also awarded the engine maker $1.3 billion for delivery of F119 engines over the next three years for the F-22A fighter—part of the Raptor’s new multi-year procurement program.
After years of describing to lawmakers and Pentagon leaders the nature of that threat and the key role spacepower plays in deterring conflict in the domain and enabling the rest of the joint force, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman told reporters during AFA’s Warfare Symposium here that the message appears to…