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Washington, D.C. - I’ve got to hand it to Pratt & Whitney, the prime contractor chosen to produce the engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. From the beginning, the company worked to avoid competition, and, at every turn, did its best to ensure that any competition arguments that arose would be smothered as quickly as possible.
The issue is whether the U.S. government would invite companies to compete over price, design and reliability to produce the engine that will propel the F-35, the single largest military procurement in the nation’s history and the future of military air superiority. The Joint Strike Fighter Engine is a $1 trillion project that will produce a fleet of military attack aircraft for the United States and our allies for the next 30 years.
Competition to build engines for military aircraft has been carried out before. It resulted in a savings of 21 percent in development of the F-16, according to the Government Accountability Office. That experience showed that funding a competitive, alternate engine not only drives down costs, but it also improves product quality, contractor responsiveness, drives technological innovation, and ensures that taxpayer dollars are not wasted.
For the customer – in this case, the U.S. government – it produces a windfall in higher quality and lower cost.
There is no doubt that this kind of remedy is needed right now. Already, cost overruns on Pratt & Whitney’s engine have hit $3.4 billion. With competition, a stumble of that magnitude could cause the contract to be awarded elsewhere.
Unfortunately, Pratt & Whitney’s attempts to eliminate the competition appear to be working. The House recently voted to end the engine competition between General Electric and Pratt & Whitney. This move was penny wise and pound foolish – saving a small amount in the near term while throwing away much larger savings in the long-term. So, we could be stuck with an engine that has experienced technical problems and runaway costs.
I strongly believe competition is good for defense procurement and leads to more reliable cost effective equipment which is why I support General Electric’s offer. This company believes in their product so much that they are willing to continue their work next year on their own dime. This is truly a win for the American taxpayer and Congress should take them up on their offer without delay.
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