In the United States, Pratt & Whitney, a company of the RTX group, has announced that it received an 18 million dollar contract from the NATO Support Procurement Agency (NSPA) to sustain the TF33 engine.
Under this contract, Pratt & Whitney will provide full engine support services for NATO’s fleet of AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft, also known as the E-3 Sentry.
Pratt & Whitney will provide a material management program that will include component forecasting, procurement and technical support.
The contract signed with the NSPA has a three-year term, with the possibility of extension for an additional two years.
The work provided by this contract will be carried out at various locations, including the NATO airbase in Geilenkirchen, depots in Turkey and Greece, and the Pratt & Whitney facility in East Hartford in Connecticut.
NATO’s E-3 Sentry has been in service for over forty years, ensuring continuous radar surveillance of the airspace of the Alliance member countries.
Of the eighteen Boeing E-3 Sentry initially purchased, fourteen units are still in operation.
Uncertain Future for NATO’s AWACS
NATO had identified the Boeing E-7A Wedgetail as the natural successor to the E-3 Sentry still in service, based on the choices for this type of aircraft made by the Royal Air Force and the US Air Force, and began negotiations with Boeing for a first batch of six aircraft.
But the US Air Force’s rethinking of the E-7 program, with the American Air Force now evaluating other solutions, has put NATO’s E-7 program in question, for which news is expected this month.
More Service Hours for the E-3 Sentry
For the time being, therefore, pending NATO’s decisions on the Sentry’s successor, the E-3 remains a fundamental and indispensable ‘asset’ for NATO’s air security and defense, due to the current serious international situation with Russia and the Middle East.
The maintenance and technical support of the ‘old’ TF33 engine become necessary to ensure operational continuity to the E-3 Sentry which, given the duration of the contract assigned to Pratt & Whitney, is expected to remain in service for at least another five years, with 2035 being the year currently set for full line retirement.
Source RTX Corporation
Photo credit @NATO
