PrintPrintThe S.C. aerospace industry could benefit from an alternative engine program.
By Molly Parker and Scott Miller
mparker@scbiznews.com
smiller@scbiznews.com
Published Oct. 26, 2009
General Electric says South Carolina can add new jobs and expand its aerospace industry if Congress continues to fund alternative engine production for the Joint Strike Fighter program.
As Congress debates the controversial, multimillion-dollar program, GE has engaged in an aggressive campaign to educate communities on the trickle-down impact of its F-35 engine production.
In Charleston, it could mean new business for Venture Aerobearings, a 1-year-old company that makes bearings for aerospace engines. Though it would not directly supply the military program, GE Aviation in Greenville would benefit from new commercial engine business that could otherwise be siphoned off by other GE plants, the company says. GE Aviation produces turbine blades for commercial aircraft engines.
For the entire state, GE says it could mean new technologies coming down the pike that could lure other aerospace manufacturers.
“When a state bids for an aerospace company, what they want to show and demonstrate is that you have a university system and also a work force that’s engaged in advanced materials and advanced manufacturing,” said Rick Kennedy, manager of media relations for GE Aviation. “We will feed new technologies into our commercial engine base for decades to come.”
Eric Hinton, general manager of Venture Aerobearings, praised the U.S. House of Representatives’ early October vote that re-established funding for the alternative engine program. An earlier Senate vote had axed the controversial program from the massive defense spending bill.
Production of the United States’ next-generation fighter jet has been beset by cost overruns. The F-35 Lightning II Program is the Department of Defense’s largest weapons procurement program, with an estimated total acquisition cost of nearly $250 billion. The engine contracts alone could be worth a reported $100 billion.
Critics, including President Barack Obama, have derided the alternative engine program as wasteful government spending. President George W. Bush tried unsuccessfully to terminate the program in fiscal 2007, 2008 and 2009.
But GE representatives argue that an alternative engine will fuel competition and keep costs down over the long haul while fueling job production in the short term.
“I think it can be nothing but good for Charleston, for the company and for the region as it works toward becoming an aerospace market and hub,” Hinton said.
Venture Aerobearings is a partnership between GE and SKF that opened last year at the Palmetto Commerce Park in Ladson. The company produces bearings for aircraft engines manufactured at GE plants in Ohio and North Carolina. It would be a major supplier of bearings to the F136 engine produced by GE and Rolls-Royce PLC, Hinton said.
That engine is 70% developed, according to Hinton, and Congress has wanted the engine contracts to be competitively bid by 2015.
The main F135 engine is made in Connecticut by Pratt & Whitney. The F-35 JSF jet is being developed by Lockheed Martin Corp.
After the Senate’s July vote to cut funding for the alternative engine program, GE got aggressive in its efforts to re-establish funding for the program, which has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to GE and Rolls-Royce in the past five years.
Part of GE’s effort is to educate communities in which GE has a presence about the potential economic impact of the program. Hinton said Venture Aerobearings could pick up a substantial amount of business supplying the F136 engine, which could translate into dozens of new jobs.
Jennifer Miller, president of GE Aviation in the Upstate, said the program could have an impact on that plant as well, even though the Greenville operation does not supply the military. If GE’s Kentucky blade manufacturing plant cannot count on the F136 engine business, it would create additional capacity within the GE system, and that could have an adverse impact on S.C. operations, she said.
“The issue for us is our growth could be at risk,” she said.
GE recently announced plans to add 100 jobs and triple its work space in Greenville to boost production of turbine blades for commercial aircraft.
GE is retrofitting a 150,000-square-foot building at the Matrix Industrial Park and plans to move in early next year. The aviation division of GE has been operating in 50,000 square feet of space at the GE Energy plant on Garlington Road.
“That’s still on track. We’re going to start moving in to the building in the fourth quarter of this year,” Miller said.
But although immediate plans haven’t changed, GE’s employees in South Carolina continue to monitor the status of the federal defense budget as it weaves its way through Congress, she said.
“At a local level, we’ve sent letters to our senators asking that they support the alternate engine,” Miller said.
This summer, the U.S. House approved legislation that would continue to fund the program for $560 million in the upcoming fiscal year. In the House, every member of South Carolina’s delegation voted in favor of the bill. A Senate committee, however, rejected funding of the program.
Rep. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., supports the alternative engine because “he believes the project contributes to our nation’s defense and abandoning it will result in a loss of American jobs,” said spokeswoman Emily Tyner. “And with our nation’s unemployment rate currently being 9.7%, the last thing America needs is more job cuts.”
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., also supports the program.
“The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter engine program will be the largest Air Force fighter engine procurement in our nation’s history,” said Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop. “Having more than one engine producer — and not relying solely on one company — is responsible planning. In addition, the long-term benefits of the competition between engine manufacturers will translate into savings for the taxpayer in the long run.”
Reach Molly Parker at 843-849-3144. Reach Scott Miller at 864-235-5677.
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