WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has notified the maker of an alternative engine for the next-generation F-35 fighter plane that its contract has been terminated.
Work on the engine was stopped a month ago, saving $1 million a day on a project that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called wasteful.
When Congress passed a long-delayed 2011 defense budget earlier this month, it contained no money for the engine, and the Pentagon then made the decision to kill it. In congressional testimony Gates said the second engine would require another $3 billion to develop.
Congress and the General Electric/Rolls Royce group that was developing the engine were notified of the decision Monday.
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