New engines on the way for J-STARS aircraft

Northrop Grumman Corp. announced this week that it has been awarded a $223 million contract to begin equipping the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or J-STARS, with new engines.

All J-STARS aircraft are assigned to the 116th Air Control Wing, a Robins Air Force Base unit. The Air Force has 17 J-STARS aircraft in its fleet. J-STARS mounts a powerful overhead imagery system, capable of watching hundreds of miles of battlefield space, onto a remodeled 707 passenger plane.

The contract includes engine pods for two J-STARS aircraft, including wiring. J-STARS aircraft run with four engines, two mounted on each wing, meaning the contract was for eight engines in total.

“We expect to have these engines on the aircraft by the summer of 2012,” said Lt. Col. Tom Grabowski, the director of plans and programs for the 116th Air Control Wing.

The two 116th Air Control Wing aircraft will be equipped with the new engines at Lake Charles, La., during routine maintenance procedures. The aircraft fly to Lake Charles for maintenance every 18 months, Grabowski said.

The J-STARS aircraft are currently flying with an engine that was manufactured about 50 years ago. Advocates have touted the tactical benefits of the new engines.

“With (the new) engines, Joint STARS will be able to take off from shorter runways,” Tom Vice, the senior vice president for Northrop Grumman’s Battle Management and Engagement Systems Division, said in a company news release.

Vice added that the new engines would be more reliable and increase fuel efficiency.

No contracts to install new engines on aircraft beyond these initial two have been issued, leaving the possibility that, for the foreseeable future, the 116th will fly some aircraft with the new engine and others with the legacy engine.

“Obviously the wing would like all of the aircraft outfitted with new engines sooner rather than later,” Grabowski said. “What you don’t want to have is a split wing.”

A steady stream of federal dollars will need to flow toward the program if the other 15 J-STARS aircraft are to receive the new engines. Federal defense dollars for the Northrop Grumman contract were procured during the last three fiscal years, said Doug Moore, spokesman for Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Ga., who has advocated for additional funding for the program.

Northrop Grumman insists that if long-term funding for the rest of the J-STARS fleet is ensured, the company will be able to set a fixed price for each engine that is lower than the price charged for the first two engines.

“By having the funding in place, it creates economy of scale,” said Dianne Baumert-Moyik, a Northrop Grumman spokeswoman. “The faster the funding is in place, the faster economy of scale is in place.”

The Obama administration has supported funding the new engines.