Legislation Would Block Destruction Of Already-Assembled
Powerplants
The chair of the House Armed Services committee Howard P. Buck
McKeon (R-CA) plans to file legislation that would prevent the
Pentagon from destroying or discarding F136 engines which have
already been built.
Sources say that legislation that has not yet been filed would
block funding for any "activities related to destroying or
disposing ... property owned by the federal government that was
acquired under the F136 propulsion system development
contract."
Bloomberg News reports that the congressman's
legislation also instructs military officials to hang on to the
engines developed by GE and Rolls-Royce, in anticipation of
re-starting the alternate engine program at some future date.
DoD instructed GE to stop all work on the F136 engine last
month. In response, GE offered last week to continue working on the
engine in FY '12 without a government contract. A GE spokesperson
said the F136 is "80 percent done," and it would not seek the final
20 percent of funding from the government.
A HASC subcommittee chair proposed last week that the full
committee limit funding for improvements in the F-35 engines unless
the Secretary of Defense agrees to a second engine option for the
aircraft. Funding for the alternative engine had been stripped from
the FY '11 Pentagon spending bill last month, the first time the
lower chamber has voted to kill money for the engine.
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