General Electric Aviation has received a $250 million contract for a new-generation jet engine that provides an improvement in affordable mission capability. 

General Electric Aviation has been awarded a $250 million contract (FA8650-19-D-2057) from the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for Advanced Turbine Technologies for Affordable Mission-Capability (ATTAM) Phase I.

According to the U.S. Department of Defence (DoD), the mission of the ATTAM Phase I program is to develop, demonstrate, and transition advanced turbine propulsion, power and thermal technologies that provides improvement in affordable mission capability.

This approach extends to a range of legacy, emerging, and future military propulsion, power and thermal technology needs in multiple applications.

Work will be performed in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by October 2026.

The Advanced Turbine Technologies for Affordable Mission-Capability (ATTAM) Phase I program is a capability based planning and execution development construct for turbine technology for the Air Force.

The Turbine Engine Division, Aerospace Systems Directorate, of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) seeks to advance the state-of-the-art in turbine engine technology.

According to the Flightglobal, these adaptive engine technology demonstrators will lead to a follow-on competition to develop a final prototype of an engine that can be inserted into the Lockheed Martin F-35A after 2021, allowing that short-ranged fighter a range boost of up to 25%.