WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- The Pentagon said Monday it is ending development of a backup engine for the F136 fighter jet that had been pushed on it by Congress.
The military had long insisted the extra engine being developed jointly by GE and Rolls-Royce wasn't needed but federal lawmakers, pressured by lobbyists, kept the project alive. The F136 is to be powered by a Pratt & Whitney engine.
"The Department of Defense today notified the General Electric/Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team and the Congress that the F136 Joint Strike Fighter engine contract has been terminated," a Defense Department release said. "The stop work order ended the expenditure of $1 million per day on an extra engine that the [Pentagon] has assessed as unneeded and wasteful."
President Barack Obama has been among those pointing to the backup engine for the Joint Strike Fighter as a symbol of unneeded spending.
Proponents of the alternate engine contend having two defense contractors competing for the contract would force the price down and produce overall savings.
GE officials said Monday the company would keep working on the project in hopes Congress might still act to fund it, ABC News reported.
"While we are deeply disappointed by the DoD's 'Notice of Termination,' GE and Rolls-Royce remain committed to the [engine] and the significant benefits it brings to the American taxpayer and our fighting men and women," GE spokesman Rick Kennedy said in an e-mail to ABC News.
"GE and Rolls-Royce will work closely with our congressional supporters during the 2012 budget process in pursuit of incorporating the engine into the program, and preserving competition. We continue to be encouraged by the bipartisan support for the engine on the merits of its performance and value. There is a significant willingness in Congress to revisit the [engine] funding debate as the consequences of terminating the engine are being fully understood."
