With the Pentagon gunning for the GE-Rolls Royce alternate engine, because they want their pig, the F-35 JSF, to fly as soon as possible, and the Pratt & Whitney’s F135 is already paid for, the alternative engine is behind the 8-ball, even if all indications are that it will provide superior performance, and that the competition between the two engines is likely to provide significant cost savings over time.

The F100/F110 competition between P&W and GE saved about 20%, but the basic F-110 was already flying as the F-101 on the B-1 bomber before it challenged the F-100.

The problem is that the services, particularly the Air Force and the Marines, want the JSF right now even more than they want the JSF get it right, and the money spent developing the F136 engine could be used to accelerate keep the schedule from slipping quite so much.

I think that it’s penny wise and pound foolish, but things being what they are, the Pentagon, and Lockheed are right about the fact that once the aircraft enters squadron service, it will be much harder to cancel.

Well, the F-136 team just had a cunning plan.

In fact, it’s so cunning, if you put a tail on it, you could call it a weasel: They are looking at making a firm, fixed-price contract proposal (paid subscription required) for the engine, which would make it a “known known”, as opposed to a “known unknown” (or maybe an “unknown unknown”, I gotta stop trying Rumsfeld-Speak, my head hurts).

In any case, the F136 does have friends on the House Armed Services Committee, who just added money for it back into the budget.