GE will provide all F-15EX engines under $1.6B contract

General Electric will be the sole provider of engines for the F-15EX Eagle II under a new, $1.58 billion contract with the Air Force.

The first F-15EX arrives at Eglin AFB, Florida, after production at a Boeing facility in St. Louis, Missouri, on March 11, 2021. General Electric will supply all engines for the F-15EX under a $1.58 billion contract announced Friday. (Master Sgt. Tristan McIntire/U.S. Air Force)

Under the firm-fixed-price contract the Air Force announced Friday, the company will supply 29 F110-GE-129 engines for the production of 12 Boeing F-15EXs. Those 29 engines include installs and spares, the Air Force said.

If all seven options are exercised, GE could provide 329 engines in all, the Air Force said. The final delivery would occur in 2031, and the engine deliveries would help produce 136 F-15EXs.

“The United States Air Force is proud to partner with General Electric as our engine manufacturer that will power America’s newest, advanced F-15 aircraft,” Brig. Gen. Dale White, the program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, said in the service’s release. “Not only will it reduce sustainment costs and drive down risk as it replaces our aging F-15C/D fleet, it will also deliver new capabilities that complement the existing and future [tactical air] portfolio.”

GE beat Pratt & Whitney in the competitive source selection process. Pratt & Whitney offered its F-100-PW-229 engine for the new fighter jet.