GE Bests Raytheon for $1.58 Billion Air Force Engine Project

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Air Force awarded General Electric Co. a potential $1.58 billion deal to provide as many as 329 engines for the service’s newest jet fighter, the F-15EX, if all seven options are exercised, beating the rival Pratt & Whitney unit of Raytheon Technologies Corp. in a competition, the Pentagon said Friday.

GE was awarded an initial firm, fixed-price job to provide and install 29 engines for the F-15EX fleet for $136 million, the first traunch in a project that could run through 2031.  

The Air Force said in January 2020 that it planned to buy the engines sole-source from GE. Pratt & Whitney, which provided engines for previous F-15 models, protested the plan. That forced the service to open the program to the competition that GE now has won.

“We are honored to help the U.S. Air Force open a new chapter by providing reliable F110 power for the F-15EX,” Shawn Warren, GE’s vice president of combat and trainer engines, said in a statement, referring to the GE engine selected. 

The F-15EX jet built by Boeing Co. will replace aging F-15C/D fighters. Boeing sees the EX as way to cut into market it lost in 2001 when Lockheed Martin Corp. beat it in competition to build the F-35 fighter.

In a statement, Pratt & Whitney said it was disappointed that the Air Force did not select its offering.

“We believe that we offered the most trusted, proven engine with the overall best value to the USAF for the F-15EX propulsion competition,” the company said.

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