Page 20 - Adaptive Engine Transition Program News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Here is an overview of 10 of the service’s top priorities as it looks to shape its future force.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded $4.9 billion in contracts to General Electric Aviation, Pratt & Whitney, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman to build an adaptive engine prototype to power its next-generation fighter jet.

The cost of the most common variant, the F-35A, has steadily come down for more than a decade and now is below $80 million a unit.

The U.S. military's advantage in fighter jet propulsion is "essentially stagnating" without a new replacement engine for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, a top official at the U.S. Air Force propulsion directorate told reporters recently.

“The perception I think that's out there is that we're maintaining, if not advancing, our military advantage in propulsion," said John Sneden, director of the Air Force's propulsion directorate. “But the reality is ... we're essentially stagnating, and we're starting to lose.”