General Electric to install Hornet engines for U.S. Navy

March 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy awarded General Electric with a $114.8 million contract to install new engines on the branch's F/A-18 and EA-18G aircraft.

Under the contract, General Electric will supply 28 Lot 20 and 21 full-rate production F414-GE-400 engines. The products are capable of generating roughly 22,000 pounds of thrust. According to General Electric, the contemporary models feature 18 percent more thrust and twice the horsepower of their predecessors.

The work will be performed in various locations in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Kentucky, and is expected to be complete by February 2019.

General Electric received all funding in the form of fiscal 2017 procurement funds at the time of the contract award, none of which is set to expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was not competitively procured.

The Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity.