Engine order for Pratt & Whitney

has been awarded a $69.3m production contract for F135 engines to power the F-35 Lightning II.

The F135 engine low rate initial production contract will support two conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) F-35 production aircraft and deliveries are scheduled to begin in June 2009.

‘This award marks the transition from development to production of the F135 CTOL engines,’ said Bill Gostic, vice president, Pratt & Whitney F135 engine program. ‘The first F135-powered F-35 aircraft is scheduled for delivery to the US Air Force's Eglin Air Force Base in Florida in 2010.’

The company says the F135 recently exceeded 8,400 system development and demonstration ground test hours. The F135 powered the F-35 Lightning II's first flight on December 15, 2006, and continues to power the flight test program with 19 flight tests to date.

The F135 is an evolution of the F119 engine for the F-22 Raptor. By the time the F-35 enters operation in 2013, the F119 engines will have logged more than 584,000 flying hours and the F135 will have logged more than 16,000 flying hours.