GE Wins $10.2 Million Defense Order for J85 Fighter Engine Supplies
The Defense Logistics Agency awarded General Electric Co. a maximum $10.2 million modification for J85 engine supplies serving Air Force and Navy aircraft, with work due by Aug. 31, 2026.
LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS — General Electric Co., the Lynn, Massachusetts, maker of the J85 turbojet, won a maximum $10.2 million modification to keep Air Force and Navy engine parts flowing through August, as announced on war.gov.
The award, a modification designated P00012, attaches to a delivery order issued against a five-year, nine-month base contract carrying one four-year, three-month option period. It covers an additional lot payment for August 2026 under Performance Period Five for J85 engine supplies, according to war.gov. The performance completion date is Aug. 31, 2026.
Funding draws on fiscal 2026 defense appropriated funds and defense working capital funds. The Defense Logistics Agency Weapons Support in Richmond, Virginia, serves as the contracting activity, and the work was awarded on July 28, 2026. The Air Force and Navy are the using military services.
The J85 engine powers trainer and light-attack aircraft, including the Northrop T-38 Talon used to prepare military pilots. Steady parts orders sustain the readiness of aging airframes that continue to fly decades after entering service. The supplies keep flight lines operational and reduce the risk of grounded aircraft during pilot training rotations.
The modification is one thread in a far larger relationship between the contractor and the Pentagon. The total value of contracts awarded to General Electric Co.in 2026 reached $1.8 billion, according to firestore:contracts. This award was announced among 12 Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on August 3, 2026, according to firestore:contracts.
For the average reader, the deal illustrates how routine sustainment spending underpins national defense without new hardware. Taxpayers fund these incremental payments to keep existing fleets flying rather than to buy new jets. Each lot payment covers a defined slice of parts, spreading cost across a multiyear contract structure.
This has happened before. The Defense Logistics Agency issues recurring modifications against long-term engine contracts to align payments with monthly production lots. The current base contract spans nearly six years with a multiyear option, a structure built for repeated add-on orders like this one.
The next decision on further lot payments rests with Defense Logistics Agency Weapons Support in Richmond, Virginia, which manages the underlying contract. A date for the next modification has not been announced.
General Electric’s ties to military aviation stretch back more than a century, as happened before with earlier engine programs. The company built the first American turbosupercharger for aircraft during World War I and produced the nation’s first jet engine, the I-A, in 1942 under a secret Army program. That wartime work grew into a jet-engine business that would power fighters and airliners for generations. The J85, first run in the 1950s, became one of the longest-serving military engines in history, and the sustainment orders that keep it flying trace directly to that early gamble on jet propulsion.
The total value of contracts awarded to General Electric Co.in 2026 reached $1,828,130,470. Overall, this award was announced among 12 Department of Defense contracts issued nationwide on August 3, 2026.
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