The F-35 fighter program is over budget and behind schedule, but the contractors are working hard to get back cut costs and adhere to time schedules. One of the most costly components of the F-35 is its engine made by Pratt & Whitney. The company has announced that it is working to lower the price of the engine and that the price could drop even more in the coming years. 

This news comes ahead of the start of negotiations between the Pentagon and primary contractor Lockheed Martin for the next batch of fighters. Bennett Croswell, president of Pratt & Whitney military engines said, "We have activities planned and in place to bring the cost down in [low-rate initial production] 5."

The fifth batch of F-35 fighters is part of the LRIP 5 batch. Pratt & Whitney has plans to reduce the cost of the F135 engine to the price of the older F119 engine that the F-22A uses. What exactly those prices are is unknown since that is proprietary information owned by the engine builder. Pratt & Whitney has said that it was able to beat the price target during the negotiations for the fourth batch of fighters and it hoped to be able to beat pricing again on the fifth batch purchase.

Croswell said, "We're constantly looking at ways to do even better than what that plan is."

While negotiations are going on for the next batch of engines, Pratt & Whitney has announced that it has found a way to increase the thrust of the F135 engine used in the vertically landing version of the F-35 that will be flown by the Marine Corps. The change will add 100 pounds of thrust to the engine and the company is also trying to reduce the weight of the engine by 100 pounds.

There are some in Washington that want to see development of the second F-35 engine renewed. An amendment proposed by the House would allow the second engine to be developed at the cost of the builder. The second engine for the F-35 was officially killed in March.