RTX subsidiary Pratt & Whitney has completed a fully digital technical assessment of its XA103 adaptive engine for the US Air Force’s Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) program, marking a major step toward building and testing the next-generation powerplant. The review confirms the company’s transition from digital design to physical hardware production using advanced digital engineering tools.

The US Air Force’s NGAP program is developing advanced 35,000–40,000-pound-thrust adaptive engines to power the future F-47 sixth-generation fighter, formerly known as the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) platform.

The XA103 engine is designed to deliver improved fuel efficiency, survivability, power generation, and thermal management for future combat aircraft, helping support the Air Force’s next-generation air dominance goals. Pratt & Whitney is now working with suppliers to begin assembling the engine for testing later in the 2020s.