Air Force adds Boeing to potential $409M air platform research contract

Boeing is the newest aerospace company to receive a position on the Air Force’s potential seven-year, $409 million air platform and engine development contract.

Five companies including Boeing have been chosen for the contract since June: Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Electric and Honeywell. The Defense Department announced United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney subsidiary as an awardee on July 11 but subsequently said the next day that award had not been given yet.

The Air Force Research Laboratory received seven proposals after a January broad agency announcement for the Next Generation Thermal, Power and Controls contract. All awards for NGT-PAC were due by the end of September, according to Deltek data.

Contractors will collaborate with AFRL to help develop new engines and both manned and unmanned aircraft through applied research into new technologies and architectures.

Through NGT-PAC, the laboratory wants to increase understanding of future power, thermal and controls platforms to determine technological feasibility and production ability.

Two additional goals for NGT-PAC include research into how to get high-power lasers onto combat planes and retrofit dual spool power extraction systems into the engine of a fighter or bomber.