Editing Pratt & Whitney (section)

==History==

=== Early history ===
In April 1925, [[Frederick Rentschler]], an [[Ohio]] native and former executive at [[Wright Aeronautical]], was determined to start an aviation-related business of his own.<ref name="Fernandez1983pp23-53">{{Harvnb|Fernandez|1983|pp=23–53}}, Chapter 2.</ref> His (offline) [[social network]] included [[Edward Andrew Deeds|Edward Deeds]], another prominent Ohioan of the early aviation industry, and Frederick's brother [[Gordon S. Rentschler|Gordon Rentschler]], both of whom were on the board of Niles Bement Pond, then one of the largest [[machine tool]] corporations in the world. Frederick Rentschler approached these men as he sought capital and assets for his new venture. Deeds and G. Rentschler persuaded the board of Niles Bement Pond that their [[Pratt & Whitney Measurement Systems|Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool]] (P&WMT) subsidiary of [[Hartford, Connecticut]], should provide the funding and location to build a new aircraft engine being developed by Rentschler, [[George J. Mead]], and colleagues, all formerly of [[Wright Aeronautical]].<ref name="Fernandez1983pp23-53"/> Conceived and designed by Mead,<ref name="Fernandez1983pp23-53"/> the new engine would be a large, [[air-cooled engine|air-cooled]], [[radial engine|radial]] design. Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool was going through a period of self-revision at the time to prepare itself for the [[World War I|post-World War I]] era, discontinuing old product lines and incubating new ones.<ref name="Fernandez1983pp23-53"/> World War I had been profitable to P&WMT, but the peace brought a predictable glut to the machine tool market, as contracts with governments were canceled and the market in used, recently built tools competed against new ones. P&WMT's future growth would depend on innovation. Having idle factory space and capital available at this historical moment, to be invested wherever good [[rate of return|return]] seemed available,<ref name="Fernandez1983pp23-53"/> P&WMT saw the post-war aviation industry, both [[military aviation|military]] and [[civil aviation|civil (commercial, private)]], as one with some of the greatest growth and development potential available anywhere for the next few decades. It lent Rentschler US$250,000, the use of the Pratt & Whitney name, and space in their building. This was the beginning of the '''Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company'''.<ref name="Fernandez1983pp23-53"/> Pratt & Whitney Aircraft's first engine, the 425-horsepower (317&nbsp;kW) [[Pratt & Whitney R-1340|R-1340 Wasp]], was completed on Christmas Eve 1925. On its third test run it easily passed the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] qualification test in March 1926; by October 1926, the U.S. Navy had ordered 200. The Wasp exhibited performance and reliability that revolutionized American aviation.<ref name="Fernandez1983pp23-53"/> The R-1340 powered the aircraft of [[Wiley Post]], [[Amelia Earhart]], and many other record flights.

The R-1340 was followed by another very successful engine, the [[Pratt & Whitney R-985|R-985 Wasp Junior]].<ref>Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II'' p. 112, Cypress, California, 2013 {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}</ref> Eventually a whole [[Pratt & Whitney Wasp series|Wasp series]] was developed. Both engines are still in use in agricultural aircraft around the world and produce more power than their original design criteria.

George Mead soon led the next step in the field of large, state-of-the-art, air-cooled, radial aircraft engines (which the Wasp dominated) when Pratt & Whitney released its [[Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet|R-1690 Hornet]]. It was basically "a bigger Wasp".

In 1929, Rentschler ended his association with Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool and merged Pratt & Whitney Aircraft with [[Boeing]] and other companies to form the [[United Aircraft and Transport Corporation]] (UATC). His agreement allowed him to carry the Pratt & Whitney name with him to his new corporation. Only five years later, in 1934, the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government of U.S.]] banned common ownership of airplane manufacturers and airlines. Pratt & Whitney was merged with UATC's other manufacturing interests east of the [[Mississippi River]] as [[United Aircraft|United Aircraft Corporation]], with Rentschler as president. In 1975, United Aircraft Corporation became [[United Technologies]].

===21st century===
In October 2014, Pratt & Whitney was awarded a $592 million contract with [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] (DoD) to supply 36 [[F135]] engines for the [[Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II|F-35]] fighter.<ref>{{cite press release |publisher=Reuters| date=14 October 2014 |title= Pratt & Whitney signs $592 million deal with Pentagon for next F-35 engines |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pentagon-fighterplane-idUSKCN0I32N820141014 }}</ref>

In January 2017, ten employees, including the head of the F135 engine program, reportedly left the company after expenses incurred to transport South Korean officials to the company's [[West Palm Beach, Florida]] facility in 2012 were deemed unethical.<ref>{{cite news |title=Exclusive: Pratt's F135 engine chief, other employees leave after ethics issue – sources |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-utc-pratt-management-idUSKBN14X291?il=0 |work=Reuters |date=13 January 2017 |access-date=14 January 2017|author-first1=Andrea|author-last1=Shalal}}</ref>

In 2020, United Technologies merged with [[Raytheon Company]] to form [[Raytheon Technologies]], with Pratt & Whitney becoming one of the new corporation's four main subsidiaries.<ref name="mergercomplete">{{cite press release |title=United Technologies and Raytheon Complete Merger of Equals Transaction |url=https://www.rtx.com/News/2020/04/03/United-Technologies-and-Raytheon-Complete-Merger-of-Equals-Transaction |access-date=April 3, 2020 |work=www.rtx.com |publisher=Raytheon Technologies |date=April 3, 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

In November 2022, Pratt & Whitney was awarded a contract for nearly $4.4 billion by the US DoD to build 100 jet engines for the U.S. military's Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps branches.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pratt and Whitney awarded contract by US DoD to build engines |url=https://portal.ct.gov/OMA/In-the-News/2022-News/Pratt-and-Whitney-awarded-contract-by-US-DoD-to-build-engines |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=CT.gov - Connecticut's Official State website |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Contracts for November 29, 2022 |url=https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/3231037/https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/3231037// |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=U.S. Department of Defense |language=en-US}}{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

As of May 2023, Pratt & Whitney was "struggling to support its fleet of passenger jets with enough spare parts and engines" which had consequences for airlines worldwide who had to ground their [[Airbus A320 Neo]] and [[Airbus A220]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-05-03 |title=Airbus says engine maker Pratt facing problems with jet support |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/airbus-says-engine-maker-pratt-facing-problems-with-jet-support-2023-05-03/ |access-date=2023-06-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Not just Go First, Lufthansa, IndiGo and others too have been plagued by Pratt and Whitney engine problems |url=https://www.dailyo.in/news/not-just-go-first-lufthansa-indigo-and-others-too-have-been-plagued-by-pratt-and-whitney-engine-problems-39648 |access-date=24 June 2023 |work=DailyO |date=5 May 2023}}</ref> The durability of the [[Pratt & Whitney PW1000G]] [[geared turbofan]] engine since its inception in 2016 has been the central issue.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Joe Anselmo |date=2023-05-11 |title=Podcast: Explaining Pratt & Whitney's Durability Problem |work=Aviation Week |url=https://aviationweek.com/podcasts/check-6/podcast-explaining-pratt-whitneys-durability-problem |access-date=2023-06-19}}</ref>

In July 2023, Pratt & Whitney issued a product recall that would affect hundreds of jet engines.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last1=Cameron |first1=Doug |last2=Tangel |first2=Andrew |date=2023-07-25 |title=Pratt & Whitney Engines on Hundreds of Airbus Jets Recalled for Inspection |language=en-US |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-engines-on-hundreds-of-airbus-jets-recalled-for-inspection-ab206106 |access-date=2023-08-14 |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> The recall was issued due to a concern of metal parts being contaminated that could lead to cracking over time.<ref name=":1" /> In August 2023, airlines in the US, Europe and Asia announced that they would be temporarily reducing some flights so they could inspect aircraft affected by the recall.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cameron |first=Doug |date=2023-08-06 |title=Pratt & Whitney Engine Problems Lead Some Airlines to Reduce Flights |language=en-US |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/pratt-whitney-engine-problems-lead-some-airlines-to-reduce-flights-4d76b10b |access-date=2023-08-14 |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> {{as of|September 2023}}, it was estimated that around 3,000 engines might have been manufactured with flawed components.{{cn|date=June 2024}}