Stop-order issued on F-35 engine program

WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- A stop-work order was issued Thursday in the Joint Strike Fighter extra engine program, the U.S. Defense Department said.

The Obama administration and Pentagon oppose the extra engine program for the F-35 fighter, which the Defense Department said in a release was reflected in President Obama's fiscal 2012 budget proposal recently submitted to Congress.

The budget did not include any funding for the program that the Pentagon said it views as "a waste of taxpayer money that can be used to fund higher departmental priorities, and should be ended now."

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives also expressed its opposition to the extra engine in its budget bill. Also, funding for the extra engine wasn't authorized in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2011 enacted in January, the Defense Department said.

"In light of these recent events, congressional prerogatives and the administration's view of the program, we have concluded that a stop-work order is now the correct course," the department said in its release.

The order will be in place pending a final resolution of the program's future for no more than 90 days unless it is extended by agreement of the government and contractor, the Pentagon said.