Northrop, UTC subsidiary sign onto potential $409M Air Force engine power contract

(Editor's note: the Defense Department subsequently said July 12 this contract for Pratt & Whitney has not yet been awarded and was mistakenly announced).

The Air Force has made a second round of awards on a potential seven-year, $409 million contract to build thermal, power and control technologies for use on air platforms and engines.

Northrop Grumman and United Technologies Corp. subsidiary Pratt & Whitney join Lockheed Martin as participants in the Next Generation Thermal, Power, and Controls effort.

Lockheed received the contract's first position in June with more awards anticipated at the time by the third quarter of this calendar year. The Air Force Research Laboratory received seven proposals for the contract in response to a broad agency announcement.

AFRL started NGT-PAC to help spur the development of new engines and both manned and unmanned aircraft through applied research into new technologies and architectures. Contractors will work to help increase knowledge and understanding of future power, thermal and controls platforms to determine both technological feasibility and production ability.

NGT-PAC includes an airframer objective to examine how to integrate high-power lasers onto combat aircraft, as well as an engine objective on how to retrofit dual spool power extraction systems into a fighter or bomber's engine.

Work will take place through July 2024.