News Review: F135 engine exceeds 19,000 hours | ADM Nov 2010

The Pratt & Whitney F135 engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has surpassed 19,000 hours and the Short Take Off Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant is in the final stages of testing prior to receiving Initial Service Release Certification from the US government later this year.

“The F135 journey continues and I am very pleased with the progress we’ve made this year,” Bennett Croswell, the company’s vice president of F119/F135 engine programs, said.

“I’ve been involved with this program since concept demonstration, and when I look back on the last 10 years, the accomplishments we’ve seen, the history we’ve made powering the first ever supersonic, stealthy military jet capable of vertical lift operations, I could not be prouder to be a part of this propulsion team.”

Pratt & Whitney has delivered all 29 test engines as well as nine production F135 engines to the customer.

The engine has successfully powered more than 350 F-35 flights including several vertical lift operations accumulating nearly 500 flight test hours.

Also this year the F135 powered the F-35 STOVL variant through supersonic flight and the first production F135 engine has been installed in a production F-35.

Throughout the year, the F135 engine is demonstrating excellent reliability, performance and thrust response, the company says, and it has achieved 20 percent thrust over specifications on both test and production engines.

The Conventional Take Off and Landing variant F135 received ISR certification earlier this year, and the STOVL F135 variant is scheduled to receive ISR certification before the end of this year.