Pratt & Whitney F135
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The F135 afterburning turbofan is the primary powerplant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies company, developed the engine from their F119 turbofan which powers the F/A-22 Raptor.
All inital F-35s will be powered by the F135. From 2009 to 2010 engine contracts will be split between P&W and the F136. The General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 turbofan is also being developed specifically for the F-35. After 2010, the Lot 6 aircraft, the engine contracts will be competitively tendered. Whatever powerplant is selected for STOVL variants they will both employ the Rolls-Royce LiftSystem ® which incorporates:
- Rolls Royce LiftFan ®
- Engine to fan driveshaft
- Three-bearing swivel module (thrust vectoring)
- Roll posts
The engine delivers 18,000 lbf (80 kN), the LiftFan 20,000 lbf (89 kN) cold thrust and the roll posts 1,950 lbf (8.7 kN) each for a sum of 39,950 lbf (178 kN) for the entire system. This compares with the a maximum thrust of 23,800 lbf (106 kN) for the Harrier's Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine.
The P&W F135 team
- Pratt & Whitney
Prime Contractor, main engine, systems integration - Rolls-Royce
Vertical lift system for STOVL - Hamilton Sundstrand
Also a UT company, Control System, accessories, gearbox
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