A few years ago, an F-15 depot guy told me that the Saudis were really unhappy with Pratt & Whitney engines in their RSAF F-15s and that they were going to switch to GE motors. I didn’t know the full story.
Now I do. It seems there were quality control problems with the engines. Saudi maintenance did the best they could but the best response they got back from PW is that they should be using less thrust. That was the wrong answer. The Saudis had enough and went with GE.
There are success stories with single engine maker jets. For example, line maintainers with the F-22 don’t worry too much about the PW F119 engines. They just work with little hassle. And before anyone makes too many assumptions that the PW F135 engine for the F-35 is based on the F119 and everything is grand, the F135 is a cousin design with different operational requirements and is not the same thing. Yes the experience is a help, but there still has to be a lot of real flight testing to prove things out. Both the PW F135 and GE/Rolls-Royce F136 engines have had setbacks.
What ever you do, don’t use the F-16 as a pure alternate engine success story. When they put the GE motor in the jet -except for a few early Block 30 F-16s – they had to alter the intake. It is not a drop in replacement. This causes logistics overhead in a combat theater where you have F-16s that can only use PW motors and those that can only use GE. Not the best way to do things.
For PW, the Saudis gave them an excellent object lesson in customer service.
H/T- ARES
