Engines
GE Believes Time is Right for Transformational Engine
The XA100 is the world’s first flight-weight, three-stream, adaptive cycle engine to run, and could power F-35s by the end of the 2020s.
The F-35A will likely get a new adaptive cycle engine by the end of the decade. The GE XA100 powerplant might also make its way into the STOVL F-35B version, as operated by the RAF.
The F-35A will likely get a new adaptive cycle engine by the end of the decade. The GE XA100 powerplant might also make its way into the STOVL F-35B version, as operated by the RAF.

Tests on GE Aviation's XA100 adaptive cycle engine have shown that the technology has matured enough and that the time has come to move the program forward.

In March the second of two prototypes of the XA100 began testing with the U.S. Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tullahoma, Tennessee. The engine was developed as part of the USAF’s Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP) and is aimed at providing a new powerplant for the F-35A (and the Navy’s F-35C) around the end of the decade.

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