GE Gives Up on Alternative F-35 Engine

CINCINNATI – GE Aviation has abandoned efforts to keep alive development of its alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Spokesman Rick Kennedy says the Cincinnati-area based unit of General Electric Co. has decided its attempt to self-fund continued development didn't make business sense.

The Department of Defense has declined to include it in its budgets, calling it unneeded spending.
After the latest rejection this year by the Barack Obama administration, GE said it would continue working on the project with partner Rolls-Royce while paying for it itself.

The F136 engine has been in the works for some 15 years.