Defense News reports that “in the wake of an engine fire that grounded the F-35 fleet, a US Senate subcommittee wants senior Pentagon officials to consider reviving an effort to develop a second power plant.”  

“In 2011, the Pentagon ordered GE and Rolls-Royce to stop work on a second F-35 fighter engine, with the Obama administration calling it an example of wasteful defense spending. The department, in announcing a stop-work order three years ago, dubbed the F136 power plant program a ‘waste of taxpayer money that can be used to fund higher departmental priorities.’”  

“Proponents of what long was known simply as “the alternate engine program” claimed it would have saved substantial amounts of money over the life of the F-35 fleet, while also providing a safety net should the F-35’s primary power plant, being developed by Pratt & Whitney, suffer a major problem.”