ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn., May 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force says a recent collaboration on the F100 engine program resulted in $7.2 million in savings during the first test in the series.

The collaboration between the Oklahoma-based F100 engine program office, the Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee and Pratt and Whitney, who manufacture the engine, led to reduced testing costs and other improvements that resulted in the $7.2 million savings, the Air Force reported.

The F100 engine powers the F-15 Eagle and the F-16 Fighting Falcon for the Air Force. Officials say the recent collaboration identified several cost saving measures through refined planning and the elimination of sub-ambient high-cycle fatigue testing procedures among other identified testing improvements.

"In the planning phase, we helped push the industry into a smarter way to perform accelerated mission testing," Lt. Col. Dale Parsons, 717th test squadron commander, said in a statement. "We were ready to try this plan in the upcoming accelerated mission testing."

Officials say additional savings came from the sequence of the physical testing being altered for greater efficiency and that the testing was conducted at night when utility costs were lower. Air Force officials say the final test cost for the F100 engine program was $12.9 million, compared with the $20.1 million originally budgeted.