The Government Accountability Office has identified repeated problems with US jet engine manufacturing, contributing to overall delays in aircraft procurement.

The US Air Force is warning that the nation’s military jet engine industrial base is facing significant challenges—production delays, quality control problems, obsolete manufacturing processes, and fragile supply chains.

A new Request for Information (RFI) put out by the Air Force signals the service branch wants not only improved engines, but potentially new manufacturers and an entirely overhauled procurement model. This initiative reflects a concern that continues to grow within the Pentagon—namely that the United States’ industrial deficiencies hinder its ability to achieve and maintain dominance in the air.

Delays Are Pitting Engine Manufacturers Against the Air Force

The Air Force has identified several systemic problems facing the military jet engine industrial base, including production delays, quality control failures, diminishing manufacturing sources, and shortages of critical materials.

It is a long-running point of frustration that the Air Force’s existing suppliers have struggled to consistently deliver engines on time and to specification. Rather than simply throwing more money at the problem, the Air Force now wants to rethink how engines are designed, built, and supported over their entire service life, in hopes of digging deeper to solve the problem.

The problems with the Air Force’s engine supply chain have already affected major fighter jet programs. For example, the F-35 Lightning II relies on the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine, which has itself faced persistent sustainment and production issues. This has contributed to the long delays and cost overruns around the F-35 program, which is now estimated to cost some $2 trillion over the course of its lifetime.

The Government Accountability Office previously noted that Pratt & Whitney was still failing to consistently meet contract specifications by years of production, and now engine availability has become a major factor slowing aircraft deliveries and upgrades. Similarly, the B-52J modernization program, which features the new Rolls-Royce F130 engine, has been held up by engine delays while costs have risen significantly. The program’s initial operational capability has slipped by more than a year, demonstrating proportion problems across entire modernization programs and, in fact, having strategic ramifications.

Now, the Air Force is attempting to revamp its fighter engine procurement process, with updated efforts supporting the F-15EX and F-16. The Air Force’s requirement could exceed 180 engines annually by 2034. Rather than awarding contracts solely based on acquisition cost, the Air Force intends to evaluate a producer’s lifecycle cost, reliability, maintainability, production stability, and supply chain resilience. The goal is to generate a more sustainable engine industrial base, rather than just a cheaper engine.

Why Is It So Hard to Build Jet Engines?

Fighter jet engines are notoriously difficult to build. Modern military turbofans are among the most complex machines ever manufactured; among other components, they require single-crystal turbine blades, advanced nickel-based superalloys, titanium forgings, and ceramic thermal barrier coatings. Internal turbine temperatures exceed the melting point of the metal itself, requiring sophisticated internal cooling channels and precision manufacturing. Even small quality defects can dramatically reduce life or reliability, which of course is completely unacceptable in such a high-risk and low-margin venture as operating a fighter jet.

There are no shortcuts to building a quality engine, and setting up the required infrastructure cannot be done overnight. Indeed, one major point of advantage the United States holds over China has been in engine development; the Chinese lag behind in this area, historically forcing them to buy engines for their most sophisticated aircraft from Russia, although this is beginning to change.

Ironically, while China has struggled to develop its own engines, it also has the capacity to shut down American production through control of sensitive supply chains. The Air Force is particularly concerned about specialized titanium, nickel alloys, advanced casting capacity, and precision forging. Chinese restrictions on certain strategic materials have highlighted vulnerabilities throughout Western aerospace supply chains; stabilizing these supply chains is increasingly viewed as a national security requirement rather than a mere business consideration.

Military aircraft availability depends not only on buying new fighters, but on keeping engine production flowing. Delays in engine production can ground aircraft, reduce readiness, and negatively affect strategic initiatives. If the United States find itself in a great-power conflict in which aircraft losses are all but certain, its production of engines will need to be streamlined and efficient, lest the Pentagon be unable to replace them.

About the Author: Harrison Kass

Harrison Kass is a writer and attorney focused on national security, technology, and political culture. His work has appeared in Tablet, City Journal, The Hill, The Spectator, and The Cipher Brief. He holds a JD from the University of Oregon and a master’s in Global & Joint Program Studies from NYU. More at harrisonkass.com.

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