The US Air Force announced that it has signed two contracts totaling $3.5 billion with RTX (Pratt & Whitney) and General Electric (each contract is worth $3.5 billion) to advance the development of a new NGAP (Next-Generation Adaptive Propulsion) fighter jet engine. The contracts are aimed at maturing the technology and reducing the risk of the program. As part of the implementation of the contracts, the two companies will design, analyze, perform risk tests, manufacture and test a prototype engine, and develop the engine integration roadmap. These tasks should be completed by July 2032. General Electric will continue to work on the XA-102 engine, while RTX will work on the XA-103 engine. The new NGAP engines are intended for the US Air Force’s new generation NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance) fighter aircraft.
