P&W, Air Force in first overhaul of F119

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EAST HARTFORD, Conn., March 14 (UPI) -- The first depot overhaul of an F119 engine used on a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor has been performed by Pratt and Whitney.

The overhaul on the "compass Vector" engine was performed at F119 Heavy Maintenance Center at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

Pratt and Whitney managed engine and module repair, technical support and the overhaul processes, while Air Force personnel performed the overhaul and repair activities.

"We have a strong partnership on the F119 program, and we're optimizing every aspect of the depot maintenance process," said Brian Thompson, F119 program manager, 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group.

"We've taken all the necessary steps on this first lead-the-fleet engine induction and we have learned a lot from this engine.

"The benefit is that when the volume of engines increases, we will have prepared for every aspect of the maintenance of each engine, all the way down to the smallest bolts and piece parts."

Pratt and Whitney said the Heavy Maintenance Center has been supporting unscheduled maintenance for the F119 engine fleet since in 2004 but the P&W/Air Force team's workload increased in 2010 when early production F119 engines began to be inducted scheduled mid-interval inspections.