F-35 Funds Withheld From Pratt & Whitney Over Delays

Funds withheld.

The Pentagon is withholding funds from United Technologies Corp. (UTX)’s Pratt and Whitney unit because of persistent delays in delivering engines for the F-35, the head of the fighter program said.

“They’ve stayed steady” in the last two years, Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan, head of the F-35 program office, told reporters today. “They haven’t gotten any better, but they haven’t gotten any worse.”

The delays stem from flaws, many of them discovered as the engines are being delivered to the military. “Right at the end, which is not a good place to find things,” Bogdan said after testifying before the House Armed Services Committee.