General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136
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The General Electric/Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team is developing the F136 advanced fighter engine designed specifically for the Joint Strike Fighter.
The GE/RR Fighter Engine Team includes GE Aircraft Engines in Cincinnati, Ohio; Rolls-Royce plc in Bristol, England, and Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. The two companies hold 60% and 40% respectively.
All inital F-35s will be powered by the Pratt & Whitney F135. From 2009 to 2010 engine contracts will be split between P&W and the GE/RR F136. After 2010, the Lot 6 aircraft, the engine contracts will be competitively tendered, this should be in time for the UK JSF deliveries which will almost certainly be powered by the F136. Whatever powerplant is selected for other 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, placing it in the 40,000 lbf (178 kN) thrust class. This compares with the a maximum thrust of 23,800 lbf (106 kN) for the Harrier's Rolls-Royce Pegasus engine.
On July 21, 2004 the F136 began full engine runs at GE's Evendale, Ohio facility. The engine ran for over an hour during two separate runs.
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