Engine issue should not delay U.S. F-35 flight tests

* F-35 on track to meet cost and schedule targets
* Air Force official "not losing sleep" over engine issue
* Pratt says manufacturing defect possible (Adds comments from Pratt official, byline)
By Andrea Shalal-Esa
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., Sept 14 (Reuters) - A problem with the F135 engine built by United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) for the F-35 fighter should not delay the program's flight test schedule, a senior program official said on Monday. Air Force Major General C.D. Moore, the program's deputy executive officer, told reporters on Monday that he remained confident that the $300 billion Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) program could meet its cost and schedule targets.
Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies unit, on Sunday said part of an F135 engine was damaged during testing on Friday, and work was underway to determine the cause.
Moore said he was optimistic about resolving the issue because an earlier version of the engine had already passed the certification testing. "I'm not losing sleep over it," he told Reuters after the news conference.
Moore declined comment when asked if the event could spur additional support for an alternate engine being developed by General Electric Co (GE.N) and Britain's Rolls-Royce Group PLC (RR.L), which the Obama administration has targeted for cuts.
The Pentagon has long advocated halting the alternate engine program -- which Congress initiated and has funded for years despite White House opposition -- and proceeding with a single engine. Many other weapons programs had been successful with one engine, he said.
But Moore conceded the timing of the engine incident was unfortunate. "This could be a nonissue, but it's the political implications that go with it," he said.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates last month threw his support behind the F-35 program and said the most high-risk issues facing the fighter were behind it, but congressional aides seized on the latest Pratt engine problem as evidence that more issues could arise.
Pratt already had to redesign part of the engine after a problem arose during testing in 2007, an effort that added hundreds of millions to program costs and delayed flight tests of the short takeoff, vertical landing (STOVL) variant.
Eric Branyan, Lockheed's deputy program manager for the F-35, said a first vertical landing by the short takeoff, vertical landing (STOVL) variant had slipped again to late October or early November. The test was initially scheduled for May, then slipped to September.
Moore said officials did not want to rush into the test.
A high-level Pentagon team visited the Pratt factory last week to study an expected surge in projected costs for the engine, but Pratt officials said the visit went well.

William Begert, vice president of business development for the company, said Pratt was working to lower longer-term costs through engineering and manufacturing improvements.
He said a big part of the $1.9 billion in the program's cost growth had been due to factors beyond Pratt's control, including foreign exchange fluctuations on the lift fan, which is produced by Rolls-Royce for both engine teams.
Several hundred million dollars more stemmed from engineering changes needed to add power to the engine after the airplane grew heavier, he said.
Begert said the engine damaged during test was arriving at another Pratt facility in Connecticut this week, and officials should have a good idea pretty quickly what went wrong.
He said he would be surprised if the problem turned out to be a design issue since an earlier version of the engine had passed testing and was now being used in flight tests. "This is unlike the third blade problem" of 2007, he said.
More likely, he said, it was a one-off manufacturing defect.
Lockheed is developing three radar-evading F-35 models to replace at least 13 types of aircraft for 11 nations initially. The United States plans to buy 2,443 F-35s for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps, with purchases by eight partner nations to boost production to around 3,000. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)