EVENDALE, Ohio - After a rigorous, 40-month competition, Egypt has selected GE's F110-GE-100B engines to power 21 new F-16 C/D aircraft purchased by the Egyptian Air Force as part of its Peace Vector V air force modernization program.
To meet requirements for the $85 million engine order, GE will re-open its F110-GE-100 production line, which has been idle for two years. (GE has continued to build the higher-thrust F110-GE-129 for F-16 C/Ds.) The engines will be manufactured at GE's Strother, Kansas, facility, with delivery scheduled to begin in 1998.
Although the selection follows two previous Peace Vector orders totaling more than 110 GE F110 engines, Egypt carried out an extensive competition before selecting GE-powered F-16s over a number of alternatives.
"That the Egyptian Air Force spent almost 3 1/2 years testing, comparing and evaluating is a testament to its commitment to performance, quality and value. We are pleased Egypt recognized all of these outstanding characteristics in GE's F110," said Michael Tyler, GE sales manager for Egyptian programs. "The selection also recognizes the uncompromising level of in-country support we have provided over the past ten years."
Rated at 28,000 pounds of thrust, GE's highly successful F110-GE-100 entered operational service in 1985 . Since then, it has accumulated more than one million flight hours on the F-16s of the U.S. Air Force and the air forces of Bahrain, Greece, Israel and Turkey.
The more than 1,400 GE F110-GE-100 and F110-GE-129 engines in service power more than 70 percent of the world's F-16 C/Ds.