Pratt & Whitney has been awarded a $6.7 billion contract for engine sustainment for the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter until 2025, a U.S. Department of Defense press release said.
“United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford, Connecticut, has been awarded a ceiling $6,700,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for F119 engine sustainment,” the Thursday, December 14 release said.
The expected completion date is December 31, 2025, and work will be carried out at U.S. Air Force bases in California, Alaska, Hawaii, Utah, New Mexico, Virginia, Nevada, Texas and Florida.
The F119 thrust-vectoring, afterburning turbofan jet engine was developed by Pratt & Whitney for the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor advanced tactical stealth fighter. The thrust-vectoring technology gives the F-22 enhanced maneuverability.
The engine delivers 35,000 pounds of thrust and enables sustained supercruise speeds of up to Mach 1.8. Supercruise is supersonic flight without the use of afterburners. A total of 507 engines were built in the 12 years up to 2013.
In 2012, there were 184 F-22s in the U.S. Air Force inventory, out of 187 production eight test aircraft built.
The F119 engine derivative F135 was designed by Pratt & Whitney for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.