New Fighter Jet Engine Could Mean Jobs/ Revenue For GE Evendale

GE Aviation showed off its newest, biggest and most powerful fighter jet engine in an Evendale test cell on Thursday.

The F136 is designed for the next generation of U.S. military planes and will likely mean more jobs and revenue for GE and its partner Rolls-Royce.GE has a 60% interest in the project and Rolls Royce has a 40% interest.

"The stakes are huge on this program," said Jean Lydon-Rodgers, president of the GE Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team. "This is a $100 billion revenue opportunity for the engine companies."

The engine will power the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter being developed for use by the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marines plus numerous American allies.

The GE Rolls-Royce team is competing for engine contracts with Pratt & Whitney.

Mark Rhodes, Rolls-Royce senior vice president for the team said the partnership with GE is part of his firm’s strategic objective to get back into the fighter engine market.

"There are plans to buy between 3,000 and 4,000 of these joint strike fighter jets," Rhodes said. "Even if we win half of that market, it’s a huge business opportunity for Rolls-Royce."

Half the market for the partnership would be approximately $50 billion in business.

Lydon-Rodgers said that 800 engineers at Evendale are already working on the F136 program.

"There are also about 450 local firms – typically engineering firms in the Cincinnati area – that are also supporting us in the development of the engine," she said.

The F136 had its first test in Cell 43 in Evendale on January 30, one-month ahead of schedule.

"Absolutely fabulous," were the words used by Lydon-Rodgers to describe the event. "It exceeded all of our expectations."

Cell specialist Mark John Koncz was at the controls when the massive engine, which can generate 40,000 pounds of thrust, was throttled up.

"It was amazing being part of it – being able to be the first one to control the power of the engine," he said.

Flight tests are slated for 2010 and production should begin by 2012.

Employment at Evendale could rise as the engine goes into service.

"It definitely provides stabilization on our capabilities and opportunities on future programs," Lydon-Rodger said about job growth. "So, the answer is yes."

That would occur as technological advances come about and are included on newer versions of the engine.

However, Lydon-Rodgers said the project is more than just jobs for GE and Rolls Royce.

"This is really attracting the very best engineering talent to the area to work on this engine, to develop it, to get it into production and then to support it in the long-term," she said. "It really is the key to regional brainpower."

That was good news for GE veteran Mike Starkey, who has been with the company 30 years and was part of the team which developed the F110 engine three decades ago.

"We were quite successful there and I’m looking forward to the same type of success with this engine – even more," said Starkey.

The federal government is spending $2.4 billion on the engine development program.

Lydon-Rodgers said she believes the taxpayers are going to be the big winner because of the competition between GE Rolls Royce and Pratt & Whitney.

"Given the opportunity to compete and drive all of the right behavior from those engine companies is going to drive costs down for the JSF program," she stated. "The development costs will pay for themselves once we get into competition."