Pratt & Whitney loses out on $7 billion deal when Saudis pick GE for Boeing F-15 fighters

Pratt & Whitney loses out on $7 billion deal when Saudis pick GE for Boeing F-15 fighters

Saudi Arabia has chosen engines built by General Electric – rather than Pratt & Whitney – for the Boeing-built F-15 fighter jets it’s buying, a job worth an estimated $7 billion.

Major Chad A. Steffey, the Air Force’s media operations officer, confirmed Tuesday that GE had won the competition for engines to power the Saudis’ order for 84 Boeing F-15SA fighter jets.

Both companies are based in Connecticut – Pratt in East Hartford and GE in Fairfield. GE Aviation’s military engines are built in Lynn, Mass., but GE also has smaller satellite plants in Manchester.

State department, Pentagon and White House officials announced Friday that the Saudis had signed the agreement making the F-15 order official didn’t specify the engine manufacturer.

It will take 168 engines to power the 84 F-15 Strike Eagle fighter jets, and the Saudis have ordered 25 spare engines, bring the order to 193 F-110-GE-129 “improved performance engines,” a statement on the Defense Security Cooperation Agency website says.

“Saudi Arabia is shifting firmly toward the GE F110 for its future fleet and away from Pratt & Whitney’s original F100,” the agency said. The agency acts as a go-between in foreign military sales between the Pentagon and Congress.

Pratt officials did not issue a statement.

Boeing Chairman, President, and CEO Jim McNerney said the agreement also includes work to upgrade 70 of the Saudis’ existing F-15s.

“We appreciate the efforts of the Obama Administration and the trust of King Abdullah’s government in finalizing the agreement, which will support tens of thousands of American jobs and help the Kingdom enhance its defense capabilities and diversify its work force,” McNerney said.

“Boeing views Saudi Arabia as a market with great potential and has made it a priority to invest in Saudi Arabia’s aviation industry while working to strengthen local technical and vocational training programs and institutions,” he said. 

The $29.4 billion overall F-15 deal is part of a $60 billion sale to the Saudis tentatively announced in late 2010, which includes the purchase of Stratford-based Sikorsky Aircraft’s Black Hawk and Boeing’s Apache helicopters.

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