History
In October 2014, Pratt & Whitney was awarded a $592 million contract with the Department of Defense (DoD) to supply 36 F135 engines for the F-35 fighter.[7]
In January 2017, ten employees, including the head of the F135 engine program, reportedly left the company after expenses incurred to transport South Korean officials to the company’s West Palm Beach, Florida facility in 2012 were deemed unethical.[8]
In 2020, United Technologies merged with Raytheon Company to form Raytheon Technologies, with Pratt & Whitney becoming one of the new corporation’s four main subsidiaries.[9]
In November 2022, Pratt & Whitney was awarded a contract for nearly $4.4 billion by the US DoD to build 100 jet engines for the U.S. military’s Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps branches.[10][11]
As of May 2023, Pratt & Whitney was “struggling to support its fleet of passenger jets with enough spare parts and engines” which had consequences for airlines worldwide who had to ground their Airbus A320 Neo and Airbus A220.[12][13] The durability of the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G geared turbofan engine since its inception in 2016 has been the central issue.[14]
In July 2023, Pratt & Whitney issued a product recall that would affect hundreds of jet engines.[15] The recall was issued due to a concern of metal parts being contaminated that could lead to cracking over time.[15] In August 2023, airlines in the US, Europe and Asia announced that they would be temporarily reducing some flights so they could inspect aircraft affected by the recall.[16] As of September 2023, it was estimated that around 3,000 engines might have been manufactured with flawed components
