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GE to Produce F110 Fighter Aircraft Engines for Slovakia, Bulgaria, Taiwan and Qatar

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GE to Produce F110 Fighter Aircraft Engines for Slovakia, Bulgaria, Taiwan and Qatar

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The U.S. Air Force has awarded $707.3M in potential contract funds to General Electric to build F110 turbofan fighter aircraft engines for Bulgaria, Slovakia, Taiwan and Qatar. General Electric has won $707.3 million to supply F110 engines to power F-16 fighter jets of Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Taiwan. For Qatar, the engines will power the twin-engined Boeing F-15QT. The General Electric F110 is an afterburning turbofan jet engine produced by GE Aviation.

GE will provide F110-GE-129 engines along with spares and updated engine management systems through four foreign military sales transactions that are part of an under an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, , the Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday.The AF Life Cycle Management Center is obligating $353.6M in FMS funds at the time of award. Work under the sole-source contract will take place in Cincinnati through Dec. 31, 2026.

511 Tactical

The F110 engine uses the same engine core design as the General Electric F101. The F110 currently powers 86% of the US Air Force F-16C/Ds. The F110-GE-100 provides around 4,000 lbf (17.8 kN) more thrust than the F100-PW-200 and requires more air, which led to the increase in the area of the engine intake. The F-16C/D Block 30/32s were the first to be built with a common engine bay, able to accept both engines, with block 30s having the bigger intake (known as “Big Mouth”) and block 32s retaining the standard intake.

The F110-GE-129 engines, with 29,400 lbf (131 kN) of thrust, power 40 F-15 fighters of South Korea. This is the first time production F-15s will be powered by a GE engine, since all previous F-15 models were powered by Pratt and Whitney. The GE engines will be manufactured through a joint licensing agreement with Samsung Techwin Company. It has also been chosen by the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) to power its F-15SG, and Saudi Arabia to power its F-15SA.

 Mechanics from the 13th Aircraft Maintenance Unit reinstall the engine of USAF F-16C block 30 #85-1494 belonging to the 13th TFS during the combined Thai/U.S. Exercise Cobra Gold.
Mechanics from the 13th Aircraft Maintenance Unit reinstall the engine of USAF F-16C block 30 #85-1494 belonging to the 13th TFS during the combined Thai/U.S. Exercise Cobra Gold. [USAF photo by TSgt. James Ferguson]

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