|
According to a November 14, 2006 US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notice, Saudi Arabia may be about to become the first F-15 operator to switch its Pratt & Whitney F100 jet engines for General Electric's F110. The total contract could be worth up to $1.5 billion.
The GE F110 was developed as an engine alternative to Pratt & Whitney's original F100, and has since become very popular in F-16s due to its higher thrust. Most of the USAF's current F-16 fleet currently flies with GE F110 engines, for instance. Despite extensive US F-15E trials in 1999, however, almost all F-15s worldwide use the P&W F100 engine. South Korea's new F-15Ks and Singapore's new F-15SG Strike Eagles will fly with the F110 as pre-installed equipment, becoming the first F-15 fleets to do so - but Saudi Arabia's F-15S variant may become the first fleet to perform a re-engining switch. |
